Wills of Legacy
by TegzTsinelas
Summary: Previously known as 'Wills of Change' ... They were once known as the strongest hidden organization, born long before the makings of Mafia. They ruled, they protected and they destroyed, but it changed when one day they disappeared without a trace...biding their time to retrieve their stolen legacy.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and KHR.

* * *

They were once known as the strongest hidden organization, born long before the makings of the underground world. The Hidden Villages ruled the society behind the dark, controlling every aspect of human life, from the economy until the birth of technology. The Villages were the true rulers over the human advancement. Hidden as they were, the Villages managed to announce their existence, either by destruction or mass killing of an uncontrolled event, leaving a whisper of fear in the beginnings of the underground world. However, 150 years into the birth of Mafia, the Hidden Villages ceased their rule. No one knew why. The underground were then left to speculate the Hidden Villages end, and after a mere 3 months into their 'end' all of those who knew the Hidden Villages had mysteriously forgotten its existence, leaving only a blank space that seems unfilled in the victims mind.

* * *

Unknown location: 0433

"Report." A stern voice said, clearly feminine but has a touch of weariness in the tone.

The order echoed into the well furnished room and despite the lack of 'guest' the owner hung back in the confines of the shadows. Her silhouette showed that it was a woman drinking from a wine glass, her posture was lax and had an air to a near content. The woman stayed in her musings until the three minute mark she made reaches zero and a puff of smoke appeared before her.

It was seconds later that the smoke disappeared and was replaced by a man half kneeling in front her. The man wore a simple jeans and t-shirt, with a pair of sneakers to add the 'ordinary' look. The man was of average height and has a distinct Japanese features, nothing worthy to look at on the first glance. Without prompting the man stood up and looked at the person behind the desk.

"Hokage-sama." The voice greeted, the tone was airy but has slight edge into it.

"Proceed." the female ordered.

"A contact has been made with the heir and the chess piece began its game. I set up the necessary apparatuses, as well as the seals for surveillance for all parties including the chained ones." The man said, staring straight into the eyes of the person behind the desk.

"Very well, estimated time of contact?" the female asked with a sigh.

"A year and a half until expiration. However the growth of the victims will have an immediate effect to the outcome of the execution." the male added.

"Any observations? Commentaries?" the female asked, looking for another insight to the situation.

"The heir has a pure heart, it might setback any future plans for the transfer. I suggest making a contact with him and try to influence future choices." the man offered.

The female only raised an eyebrow and despite the shadows the man took notice of it.

"Forced interruption might instigate a war." the man added, however another eyebrow rose to meet the previous one. "And can also put a major wrench in the plans, -_and if I may borrow the phrase 'troublesome'-_, the best we can do is be subtle. However, the flaw in this is that we are facing discovery in public as well as letting one our men be counter influenced in the process."

"...I see that you have point in there, but..." the woman began until her voiced became murmurs of her thought.

The man stood in silence knowing that decisions were layers of plans upon plans and can be quite tedious. After a minute of contemplating the woman abruptly stood up, shadows still hung in her frame.

"Call for a meeting in 0900. All heads must be present and be on standby for any immediate call. Also forward the current report to other Villages immediately" the woman ordered, pouring a generous amount of wine in her cup while pressing a button on her table.

"Hai." a mechanic female voice replied.

"Anything else?" the woman asked looking at the man before her.

"None, Hokage-sama." The man replied succinctly.

"You're dismissed then."

As soon as the word escaped her lips the uncalled tension disappeared, the man's posture slouched and a lazy glint appeared in his eyes. He turned around and began to walk towards the window, not noticing the annoyed look the woman gave her.

"You know you can cancel the illusion before you report." the woman called, not bothering to look at the man.

"Yes, well I can't have the pup running trough the office as soon as he noticed my presence." the man lazily replied, scratching his cheek in a meek action. A smirk was sent to his way by the woman. "This is the only illusion I have left in my arsenal that escapes the pup's senses, unfortunately it comes with the guise." he ended gesturing to his current appearance.

Not a minute after he replied both occupants of the room froze as a shout neared their hearing range. A minute later the woman let out a chuckle and the man only let out a tired defeated sigh, he lifted both his hands and made three signs as opposed to the simple one, showing how difficult the illusion is, a puff of smoke erupted and in the place of the ordinary person was a very unique one.

Instead of the average height, the man stood solid six feet tall and is still intimidating despite the slouch he acquired. His once Japanese feature was dramatically changed and was covered with a mask and a hitae-ate with their village insignia that was slanted to the left, leaving only his storm gray right eye visible. The attire changed into a military one, gone was the ordinary look, the man now wear the standard black long sleeved shirt and pants tucked in bandages, his hands were secured with metal plated gloves and steel toed boots for his feet, the standard flak jacket hung limply on his left hand. However the most prominent part of the man, was his hair. It was a shade of silver and is swept towards the left side of his face in a wind swiped untamed way, making a rugged aura yet instill the lazy one in perfect synchrony.

Another sigh escaped the now masked lips as he readied for the next set of entrance and not a second too late an orange blur slammed in his torso as the shout of "Kakashi-nii!" echoed in his ears.

The man, now named Kakashi, can only smile in amusement as the pre-teen hug the air out of him. He managed to reposition himself and pat the boy in the head.

The boy was 12, nearly 13 in the coming months. A tuft of yellow hair spiked out beneath his fingers, a glint of red shines here and there -it was more of a highlight- he was wearing a kill me orange t-shirt their family insignia in the back, and -thankfully- black pants tucked in bandages combo and plated sandal. The boy was tanned signifying his outdoor activities under the sun.

Kakashi managed to pry the boy from his torso, ignoring the snickers in the background, and managed to look as the boy. He was greeted by a huge grin, squinting eyes that managed to blend in with the whisker marks -three on each cheek- and a loud laugh. His hitae-ate shined brightly seemingly happy with its wearer.

"Kaka-nii! Welcome back! How was the mission? What was the Japan looked like? Did you meet anyone from the other villages? Tell me! Oh and will he have any more missions?" the boy stopped his mile a minute tirade and looked at the shadowed figure in question. His energy was too high for the time of the day, -currently 0500- and the sun hasn't risen yet!

The female shook her head in denial and the boy returned his tirade without stopping for air, somehow managing to climb to the back of the silver haired man without trouble, due to his size. He was cut off however when a gloved hand covered his mouth finally silencing the boy.

"Maa, Naruto you can ask me in the apartment later, ne?" The man said in a light tone his visible eye smiling in amusement.

Naruto manage to pout through his eyes -don't take that literally- and nodded. The gloved hand was removed and was turned towards the back of the boy's shirt, despite the awkward position the man effortlessly lifted the pre-teen and managed to let the boy sit on his shoulders. With a two fingered salute the man announced their leave and the boy waved enthusiastically.

"Bye Okaa-chan! See you at lunch!" the boy managed to say before they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The woman's silhouette was hunched a hand covered her mouth as she stifled a laughter. "No matter how many times I see it, Naruto-kun is the only one who manage to make Kakashi wear a exasperated look."

The woman stood up her hand gliding in the air as she grabbed her wine glass, she walked towards the balcony on the east side of her office and stopped a meter away from the edge. Minutes of silence later a burst of light appeared beyond the mountains, clouds lighting up in tandem with the rising sun. The rays of light rose until it reaches the confines of the village, roosters crowed in greeting and alarms rung in different tunes, not a minute later a loud shout of 'Youth!' echoed on the east side of the village followed by strings of curses from the sleeping occupants of the area. After minutes of chaos of the usual morning routine, the village had waken up enough to start the day. Vendors began to open their shops and households began to clean their surroundings, flashes of black and green zipped through the roofs and some white ones can be seen standing in the shadows.

"_The day has finally started and it seems it is the start of a new chapter of chaos for the Hidden Villages..." _ The woman thought as she idly swirled her wine.

Now that the sun has risen high, the woman's feature can now be seen. She was an inch taller than the average height and wore a long sleeved turtle neck mesh shirt, with only a black flak jacket to cover her chest. She wore the standard pants, tucked in knee high steel toed boots, and lastly a haori with the word Hokage written in runes of her specialty. The woman's feature were disarming at first glance, her easy going smile and glinting lavender eyes only shows a happy go lucky person, her scarlet hair that was known for it's length was now tied in an elaborate bun placed at the nape of her neck showing a motherly aura on her subjects. Yet despite her appearance many Kages in other Villages are weary on her strength, news that she challenged the previous Hokage multiple times and ended the battle with a tie, earned a well deserved respect from other countries.

However what the other Kages didn't know is that the 'battles' are a one sided argument and always leading the previous Hokage in a whipped state since no husband would extend the torture of a wife in her period. This situation was known in the village, yet despite the sorry state of the previous Hokage in the aftermath, he still earned the respect because of his kindness, strength and mastery of an obscure technique. The red haired Hokage meanwhile earned the respect by single-handedly defeating a combined assault of rebellious villages in one of her missions, using her sealing arts, kenjutsu and unpredictability.

The red haired woman, now sitting precariously at the edge of the balcony finished her drink and turned back to her office, there is still paperwork to finish. As the woman sat on her chair, a golden plaque shine beneath the sun's ray, the name Uzumaki Kushina engraved in an elaborate lettering.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Namimori: Sawada Residence, 0630

"HHIIIIEEEE!" a feminine like screech echoed through out the household and was immediately followed by a loud bang, eerily familiar to a gunshot.

"Wake up dame Tsuna!" a baby-ish voice ordered.

"Reborn!"

* * *

A/N: This is my first story in over 5 years of lurking in this site. So any comment, critics, suggestions and violent reactions are welcome -no flames though-. anyway tell me! BTW if you have any ideas you can add your own I'll think about it :D


	2. Planning

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and KHR.

* * *

Unknown Location: 0900

"All heads are present and accounted for Hokage-sama." a smooth feminine voice echoed in the silent meeting room. Not a breath nor a shuffle of clothing can be heard despite all 12 seats being occupied.

Kushina sat at the head of the table, silence still permeated in the room. A shallow nod from her, signaled the beginning of the meeting.

Immediately her assistant Nohara Rin, began. The female was of below average height, wearing a pale lavender dress and dark blue leggings, bandages covered her calves. She finished her attire with the standard boots and gloves, her flak jacket however has a red cross insignia on the upper left side, stating her status as a medical practitioner. The hitae-ate embedded with the Village symbol,was adorned as a headband. Rin has a peculiar features, her cheeks adorned a rectangular marking that somehow enhanced her auburn eyes. She maintained her bob haircut on the front part of her hair while the rest were a long cascade reaching the small of her back.

"This is recent mission of one of the Anbu Captain, Inu." the late teen began while handing a five page file to the seated heads. "In his report, it was stated that contact has been made with the Vongola heir. Our target had manage to put surveillance and a spy in the heir's vicinity, which Inu had immediately secured it's location via seals. Other possible location of our target had been included, there is a list on the bottom. An update on locations will be regularly made and will be included in future meetings."

Rin paused briefly, taking into account that the heads are still reading the report. After getting nods from the clan heads she continued.

"Pages two until four contains the information that was copied from our target. This includes the possible guardians of the next generation of the major Famiglias and their allies. Inu had managed to to get a bio from all possible guardian candidates whether it's civilian, involved or convicted. Please note that the complete bio for all candidates is separated from this report, you can request for the full report at the mission desk. Due to the amount of candidates a proposition of Category D: Level 1 observation for all candidates is still in move. When approved, all sub clans and minor clans will have a weekly mission to shadow their intended target. Nex-"

Rin stopped as a hand rose in the air. Kushina blinked out of her musings as she saw who gained their attention.

It was Kaoru, the current head of the Kurama Clan. She was an old woman nearing her sixties yet still maintained her position as the head due to her expertise in genjutsu, despite their style's drawback -which is obtaining a second personality- they were well known for their flawless, near undetectable illusion. There were rumors that stated that the strength of the caster can be known by the amount of personalities of the practitioner created and it was said that clan head houses fifteen personalities in her mind, a very alarming number, yet the rumor is still unconfirmed. The Kurama was also known for their vast knowledge and accomplishment in the area of medical science.

The old woman straightened her posture, showing a well maintained body despite her age, her raven hair was peppered with white lines and was tied in bun on the top of her head. She wears a beige tunic under the standard flak jacket, their clan insignia was sewed on her right shoulder while the hitae-ate was tied loosely around her neck. Below, she donned a black cargo pants tucked in bandages that covered her calves, she forgone the gloves and changed the boots with a plated sandal. Her steel grays eyes briefly looked at the report and then back to Rin.

"May I ask how will the observation be made when the candidates are nearly half a thousand and are scattered throughout all of the continents?"

Kushina glanced at Rin with a raised eyebrow. The late teen manage to contain her embarrassment and only showing a light blush above her markings.

"Ah, yes. The candidates will be divided based on the area of jurisdiction of the Kages. The estimated number of candidate for each Village is fifty to seventy-five. If a candidate had a change of location the observer will immediately contact their commander and cross examine with the follow up. In a chance of the candidate dying or being locked up, immediately confirm the death and its cause, as for the latter assign a hacker to gain the footage of their target, the reports will be updated daily." Rin elaborated and finished her explanation with a bow.

"Thank you." Kaoru said and nodded back for Rin to continue her report.

Rin paused and pondered where she stopped and immediately scanned the report.

"The last page contains the proposed actions for the following month. All possible angles of confrontation is listed. Ideas that you may give will be considered." Rin ended her part and went back to the left side of the Hokage.

Silence has once again showed its presence in the room, and was only interrupted by the shifts of paper made by the clan heads.

Kushina gazed at the council looking at their eyes and murmurs of ideas. However what caught her eye was the untouched report before a clan head, one Nara Shikaku.

The Naras specialized in strategy and was well known for the high intelligence they always produce, however the downside of the high IQ was the high rate of laziness that always seems to appear in males, the females meanwhile have a temperamental mood that nearly rivals the Uzumaki.

"Shikaku-san, do you have something to share?" The Hokage's voice was soft yet it managed the silence the clan heads.

The attention was now focused on the Nara clan head. Shikaku was a very tall man second only to Kakashi, he wore the standard black long sleeve shirt and pants tucked in bandages combo, along with the green flak jacket and steel toed boots, hitae-ate tied securely on his right bicep. His hair was a deep raven and is tied in a ponytail with the ends spiked up and looked similar to a pineapple. The man has a sharp feature nearly aristocratic, with a goatee and sharp glint in his eyes, the features however were ruined by the lazy aura that radiated from him, eyes half closed and sighs escaped his lips once in a while.

The clan head did not respond, gaining a sweat drop from others. Not a second later a huge hand patted him in the back, gaining the Nara's attention as well as half the clan heads in the table.

The owner of the hand was Akimichi Choza, his clan specialized in health care and knowledge in weaponry including the current 'big guns' in the government military. He was a big boned man, nearly twice the width of the lanky Nara. Choza wore the standard black long sleeved shirt and pants, the Akimichi however forgone the flack jacket, gloves and boots, and instead wore their signature clan armor, their clan symbol etched proudly at the center of the chest armor. His hitae-ate was placed at the center of his fore head, preventing the mane of wild burgundy hair from covering the chubby face. His eyes was squinted and an easy going smile on his lips, a distinct marking on cheek added the friendly air from the Akimichi.

"The Hokage called for you Shikaku." his voice was light yet gruff at the same time.

Shikaku immediately straightened, gaining an amused glance from another friend across the table. Shooting a glare at the Yamanaka clan head, the Nara immediately focused back to the Hokage.

Yamanaka Inoichi, his clan was well known for their skill in information gathering as well as mastery in the mind arts. The Clan head was wearing the standard outfit of black long sleeved shirt and pants tucked in knee high steel toed boots, his flack jacket was resting on the back of his seat seemingly splattered with a rustic liquid, showing that he recently finished a mission or was busy in the T&amp;I department. The Yamanakas prominent feature was their pale blond hair, a trait passed down by a European ancestor. Pale blue eyes focused on the Nara as the clan head shared his thoughts.

"Given our history, we either risk an exposure or play safe." The Nara clan head started, surprising some.

"Please elaborate." Kushina said, all her attention focused on the Nara, leaning forward she clasped her hands together as she rested her head on her inter-crossed fingers.

"It is well known throughout the Hidden Villages of the failure of the transfer some decades ago." Shikaku started, glancing at his colleagues whose predecessor are involved in the event. "The situation this time vastly differs from the previous one. Instead of being chosen through strength, there is a high possibility that the Trial will be made in the coming months. Subtlety is the key, we need to integrate our agents within the chosen participants and get under the range of our target. By integrating our agent in the ranks we can change the course of the decision through influence and can therefore confront our target without any conflict from the third party, namely the Mafia. However, this will also put our agents under the watch of our target, a risk that must be taken for this plan. "

"Are there any course of action in hand?" The deep voice of Hyuuga Hizashi echoed in the room.

The Hyuuga clan was well known for their tracking skill due to their unique heritage. The Byakugan is an ocular genetic trait that was rumored to be a result from an experimentation done by their ancestors, leading to the white pupil-less appearance in their eyes, giving them the ability to 'see' their surrounding in a 360 degrees view. Due to this advantage the clan managed to create a taijutsu style known as Gentle Fist, a style that incapacitates foes by a mere push on their weak points. The clan head was a person of average height, long black hair tied loosely at the base of his neck. He was wearing their traditional garb similar to those of the Japanese, their clan symbol etched at the center of his clothes at the back, his hitae-ate was tied on his forehead.

"There are. The first one, is to interrupt the Trials at the time of transfer, the outcome can lead to a war with the Mafia given their nature and it might instigate future conflicts with the public. The second one is to make a cover of a being a newly made Famiglia, this one has high success rate, however we need to have a lot of time and resources to make a name for ourselves without suspicion. Alliances with the major Famiglias are estimated to be in two years, not enough time. This choice is available if we overlook the current Trial and move this plan for the next one, which will be on the next 5 decades or so."

Shikaku paused, and drank the tea prepared by Rin. There are many confrontations running in his mind, choosing all possible outcome that will obtain their long lost legacy.

"The last one is that we stick to the shadows, it has a low success rate since there are many unknowns in the process, we can only observe and plan ahead. Our actions might lead to confrontation and can lead to suspicion from both sides. This wait and see plan is one of the safest route if you prioritize the safety of the village." The clan head ended, and looked at the contemplating faces made by his colleagues.

"Say that we chose your first proposal, what are the probable actions will you take?" a wizened voice interrupted the musing of the council, all attention was thrown at its speaker.

Kushina looked at her husband's predecessor, Sarutobi Hiruzen. The man's clan was well known for their accomplishment in cover ups, they took care of agents who defected from the Villages and put them into silence, the man had placed all of his sub clans throughout the Village alliance and zealously devoted their skills in maintaining the secrecy of the Hidden Villages. They were also known for their attraction towards vehicle transports, one of their latest creation are the hover vehicles which is nearly untraceable given that it is powered up by the rider's own energy. The Sarutobi Clan head was of average height, posture still unbeaten despite his age nearing seventy. He wore a red tunic and a brown pants, a wooden sandal and white scarf that covered his signature goatee. His attire was nearly civilian which was not surprising since he was stepping down from his position by next week, giving the head title to his son, Asuma.

"I have made precautions with this choice." Kushina began taking the light from Hiruzen. "This proposal was also made by Inu when I asked for his opinion. I suggest that we choose the younger generation for this 'mission', preferably those of ages below 20."

Exclamations was made by some clan heads.

"However." Kushina's voice came out with a slight edge in it, silencing the arguments. "We will also begin creating our Famiglia this will become as a go-between the underground and public. It is not dissimilar from the connection made by the Land of the Iron with the weapons production in Germany. This will also become our back-up plan in case the first proposal is compromised."

"May I ask why did you chose the younger generation for the first proposal?" the soft voice of Uchiha Mikoto drifted in the air.

Mikoto had recently replaced the position of clan head, due to the coup that was lead by her husband. The result was a devastating loss for the the renowned clan, nearly a quarter of their force was killed in battle. They were given a second chance and was subjected to probation under the Sarutobi Clan. Confirmed traitors were executed and forced loyalist were demoted to the lower rank, permanently. The Uchihas were known for their ocular genjutsu, the Sharingan and only those who have high enough skills can obtain their clan's legacy. They were also known for their unusual penchant for acting and liking to literature.

She wore a black skin tight turtle neck sleeveless shirt, an elbow length metal plated gloves and a red scarf that covered her neck. She paired it with a washed out red cargo pants tucked in knee high boots, the hitae-ate was customized and made into a belt buckle. Her long raven hair was tied in a high ponytail showing her young features despite entering in her early thirties. Calm onyx eyes looked directly at lavenders.

"As you noticed, the majority of the candidates are mostly minors and what best way to get under the radar of our target than to be close to his?" Kushina began, her hand waving the air in a gesture. "Granted, that there are many grown ups that will inevitably direct the next generation, our children has however, passed that point. They already know what is good and what is bad, the decision are theirs to make."

None disputed her claim since nearly all clans have their own genius or protege housed under their roof. They raised their children on their own way, traits has passed down and errors are righted. Every children in the villages specialized in many areas, and the progress made by the young generation manage to boost the economy of the village. Many elders has their eyes on the generation, taking note of those who will surpass who.

Silence had once again reigned in the room, all clan heads contemplating the choices, after ten minutes it was interrupted by a hidden cough.

"Are there any objections to the two proposals?" Rin asked, gaining all attention from the clan heads.

The late teen waited for 5 minutes and no objections was stated.

"Then the meeting will be adjourned." Kushina stated a tad bit too quickly. "There will be a meeting again tomorrow at 0800, please be in time. The proposals will be forwarded to the Allied Villages this afternoon. That is all."

Kushina took a last glance at the clan heads and nodded.

"You are all dismissed."

* * *

Unknown Location: 1330...in a certain ramen stand...

"Ne, Kaka-nii" A whiny voice complained. "Does the council meeting usually take 4 hours?"

Naruto looked at his self proclaimed big-brother, who was idly reading an orange book.

Kakashi did not reply and instead giggled pervertedly as he flipped a page. The boy pouted and made a small 'hmpd' as he crossed his arms and looked away from his proclaimed brother, not seeing the glance the older male made toward his actions. Out of no where a gloved hand ruffled the boy's hair making the already messy spikes, well more messy.

"Maa, Naruto. This was an important info that the Village managed to obtain. The council need all the time they can get to plan the next course of action." the older male explained. "Are you sure you want to wait for your parents? Your ramen is already cold." He added in a teasing tone.

"No! Okaa-chan promised yesterday and Otou-san said that he will return from his mission in Kumo this morning, 'tebayo" Naruto replied zealously, raking his finger through his hair trying to tame his blond locks.

Kakashi only shook his head in amusement as he returned to his book. "If you say so." he murmured, ignoring the untouched miso soup he ordered earlier.

Minutes later, the two males perked up as their senses picked up two familiar signatures. The younger one immediately stood up, a mega watt smile on his face and went to the front of the shop. Not a second later a swirl of red tinted wind came out of existence in front of the boy, and the pre-teen was immediately hugged in lock hold, and not a fraction of a second, a yellow flash zipped and another pair of arms joined the hug.

"I win!" the boisterous voice of the Hokage rang throughout the lane, the passersby can only smile in amusement at their leader.

"No fair Ku-chan, you got a head start." A smooth baritone voice complained.

Naruto finally manage to get out of the hug, breathing air deeply. His mother is very strong, no wonder his father was always whipped when they got into an argument. Taking more needed oxygen, the blond looked up and greeted his parents.

"You're both late!" the boy shouted, pointing at his parents in a dramatic fashion.

"Sorry, Naru-kun. The meeting had taken too long, even for my liking." Kushina apologized as she nudged her husband none too gently in the ribs.

Namikaze Minato can only scratched the back of his head in a meek manner. He arrived at the middle of the meeting, and was unable to switch with his adviser, Jiraiya, since there is a no interruption policy when it comes to council meeting. He used the next two hours to finish writing his report and submit it to the mission desk, with a hour and a half of time left. With nothing left to do, he visited the Namikaze clan and was greeted with a pile of paperwork. He was wrong to trust his adviser to do the paperwork, since the only paperwork that Jiraiya does are his researches.

The Namikaze are not like other clans, where nearly all families are interrelated, the Namikaze is a clan that houses orphans who showed skills in espionage. It started when Jiraiya adopted three children who showed potential in the area, immediately Minato taught them enthusiastically despite being a beginner himself. Three years later when the four had manage to 'graduate' from Jiraiya's teaching, they decided to broaden their skills. Minato stayed behind in the village, Kushina and all, while the other three requested for a transfer. A year later the three came back with students of their own, raging from orphaned civilians to abandoned toddlers. Minato welcomed them with a smile and open arms. This became a routine for the next three years until the number reached 50 not including his relatives. Minato requested for a clan to be made under his name and was approved two years before his ascension to the Hokage seat.

Minato was a splitting image of his son, or the other way around. He was on above average height, only and inch or two shorter than Kakashi and wore the standard outfit, similar to that of his student but with no mask. His hitae-ate was tied around his forehead and his clan symbol was etched on his right shoulder. His spiked golden locks was lengthened and was tied at the base of his neck, ending at the middle of his back, his features was sharp and aristocratic, a trait passed down by their Italian ancestor.

"Paperwork." he said the excuse lamely, getting an eye roll from his wife.

"You are the only person I'm sure that likes those devils." Kushina complained, remembering her own growing stack in her office.

"Anyway, Brat. How's training?" Kushina asked her son, She grinned as she saw the pouting face drastically turned to an enthusiastic one.

"Kaka-nii taught me Rasengan!" Gaining surprised faces from his parents. "Although it was only the basics and it was really hard." Naruto continued, further elaborating the lessons taught by his brother. His explanation was however cut off as a loud grumbling sound came from his stomach.

Minato and Kushina laughed as they saw the embarrassed face of their child.

"Come on, let's go in. I'm sure you and Kakashi waited long enough for us." Minato said as they entered the shop.

* * *

Namimori Middle. 1500

"Hiee!" A shriek resounded throughout the yard and was followed by an explosion.

A 14 year old boy ran around the area, dodging what seems to be sticks of dynamite. He was very short for his age, his untamable brown hair was singed and his chocolate brown eyes widened as another stick neared him. He barely dodged it as another explosion threw him on the ground. His uniform consisted of a yellow blazer and brown pants that gained another tear and patch of dirt.

"R-reborn! Do something!" the teen shouted at a toddler who was standing from a branch away from the chaos.

"No can do Dame-Tsuna, this is your battle for the position of the future boss of the Famiglia." The toddler replied nonchalantly.

"B-but I don't want anything to do with the Mafia!" Dame-Tsuna wheezed out. "And I can't win against those dynamites!"

"Then win with your dying will." was the only reply and not a second later a gunshot rang in the air.

Reborn brandished his Leon gun and continued to watch the ongoing chaos with his beady black eyes. He was dressed in a suit and a fedora to accompany his attire.

"Tch." A taller teen exclaimed as he saw his opponent be reborn.

He was of average height and wore the uniform similar to Tsuna only with added accessories on his arms and neck. His silver hair flowed with the air as he continued to throw his dynamites. Green eyes glared as he saw his opponent put out his weapons with bare hands, clicking his tongue in annoyance, the teen threw another batch.

Reborn continued to watch his student put out the dynamites, taking note to attend the burns after the battle. Not a minute later he saw the incomplete move of the silver haired teen backfire, his own dynamite blocking all possible exits. The toddler smirked as he saw his student continue to put out the dynamites, even the ones surrounding his opponent.

"I-ite." Tsuna flinched as his body registered the blisters in his hands, the dying will on his forehead was now gone.

"Juudaime!" The shorter teen can only blink as he saw the taller teen bowing before him. "I'm yours to command, I'll do everything you order me!"

"H-huh?" was the only thing the teen manage to reply.

* * *

A/N: Hello! I see that some followed, thank you for those who supported this story. Anyway. I dropped hints in this story so you can guess the agenda of the Hidden Nations. If you're worried about the 'crossover' part of the story, then don't worry! it will be posted in the next two chapters. I'm winging this story so the plot is still a bit changeable, if you have questions, comments, ideas, corrections and violent reactions you can post it in your review. Thank you! till next time~


	3. Mission Start!

Disclaimer: I do.n't own Naruto and KHR

* * *

Namimori: Sawada Residence 1900

Sawada Tsunayoshi, mostly called Dame-Tsuna by the school population and Tsuna by his friends.

Friends...

Tsuna tested the word in his head, a small smile graced his lips. Who would've thought that the school's 'outcast' made friends? In the past making friends always leads to bruises and empty wallets, and sometimes a trip to the hospital.

The brunet shook his head as his thoughts wandered towards the negative lane. It was changed to the recent memories he made in the past two weeks, remembering his 'guardians' as Reborn like to call them.

There was Gokudera Hayato, His first friend and the first time they met was an unusual one. It started with a battle for the boss position in Vongola and ended when the brunet saved the silver haired teen from bombing himself. Tsuna glanced at his hands, and traced the fading scars he got from defusing the dynamites. Gokudera was an extreme loyalist if he would bluntly describe the older teen, his temper was also an added stress if combined with Reborn's own brand of chaos. But he wouldn't change Gokudera for anyone, Tsuna once saw him helping an old woman carry her groceries from the market. He would've dismissed it as an illusion but when he overheard the talk of UMA's then there no reason to doubt his eyes.

Then there's Yamamoto Takeshi, the baseball star of the school. Tsuna grimaced at the memory of him giving as half assed advice to the star when the taller teen is in a slump. It then lead to the baseball player intending to commit suicide the next day, he was thankful that he manage to convince Yamamoto out of his intention. Although the latter part of them falling from the roof was not an experience he want to relive in the future. Takeshi was a very tall person, half a head taller than Gokudera, and was a definition of happy go lucky. Amber eyes was now filled of happiness giving out his true smile when they meet, he has a habit of scratching the back of his head messing up his short raven locks when Gokudera argues with him

Bovino Lambo, was more of an annoying little brother than a friend, since the kid is only 5 years old. With a head full of curly hairs that can hide grenades, a meter and a half of bazooka and other miscellaneous items -a mystery that would forever be unsolved- and a cow print attire with matching horns and wide green eyes, was an adorable child in the eyes of his mother. Lambo was immediately 'adopted' in the Sawada residence along with Ipin and Fuuta, the former is an assassin child of the Chinese Triad, trained by one of the Arcobaleno Fong. She has an oval shaped head with only a single braid of hair on top. The latter was a well sought out individual because of his talent to rank anything. Fuuta has an Italian heritage, with dull blond locks and blue gray eyes, he was the mediator between Lambo and Ipin when things got over the top. The children are a handful, but seeing his mother smile everyday was worth it.

Sasagawa Ryohei, was the older brother of his crush Sasagawa Kyoko, and was the captain of the boxing club. The senior was loud, always shouting 'EXTREME' in his sentences that can sometimes create a shouting match with Gokudera. The boxer has a lawn mowed gray hair, and a scar that covered by a band aid on his left eyebrow. Tsuna remembered the battle, or match if you prefer, in the boxing club, a small blush graced his cheeks as he remembered that Kyoko had seen him in those embarrassing underpants.

Hibari Kyoya, was more of an acquaintance than a friend, a scary battle addict acquaintance. Being the Head of the Disciplinary Committe who brandished tonfas like an everyday utensils and with matching 'I'll bite you to death' -his well repeated phrase-, no one who was in their right mind would commit any offence in his presence. Hibari has the features of a Japanese aristocrat, deep raven hair that framed his angular face, sharp gray eyes that was always in a glare. He might get the top of the girl's list of possible boyfriend if not for his infamy. They met the disciplinary head when Reborn tricked them into trespassing into the senior's office, and the rest went downhill for them.

Another acquaintance that he made were the Kokuyo gang. They started as enemies -Tsuna noticed a very eerie pattern-, with Rokudo Mokuro as the leader. The man was tall, rivaling Takeshi in height, and wears their school uniform but wore a camouflaged shirt underneath his jacket and boots instead dress shoes. He has an angular face that can be mistaken for a European aristocrat if not for his attire. Mokuro has a peculiar shade of hair -indigo? Tsuna pondered for a while- and was styled similar to a pineapple -Tsuna snorted, he need to keep that thought to himself lest he was skewered to a trident-. Mokuro specialized in illusions and can vary his fighting style through his right eye. The brunet still remembered the beating he got from fighting the different paths.

Their recent member, who was Mokuro's permanent proxy was a girl. Her name was Dokuro Chrome, a very timid and sweet girl, a stark contrast from her partner. She wore the female version of Mokuro's outfit and has an eyepatch on her right eye. Tsuna didn't delve deep into that feature, since it seems that it was a personal matter.

Miura Haru was another female friend he made. She was a very energetic outgoing girl who has talent for creating costumes and a gymnast in their school. Haru was of average height and has a dark brown hair usually tied in a ponytail, her eyes matched the color of her hair and was usually filled with happiness and wore the Midori highschool uniform. She made friends with Kyoko when they saw that they have a liking to cakes.

"Tsu-kun dinner is ready!" the cheery voice of his mother pulled him out of his musings.

"I-I'll be down in a minute!" he replied and got out of the bathtub noticing that he spent thirty minutes soaking in the water. The brunet immediately wrapped a towel around his lower region and went towards his bedroom., humming tune on the way.

As he opened the door to his room, Tsuna shivered. It was not from a cold draft of wind from his window, nor from the traps laid by Reborn. He felt that something is going to happen soon and can only be spelled in chaos.

* * *

Unknown Location: 1500

Kushina sat regally on her chair, looking at the seven individuals who stood before her. The Kages from other villages approved of her decision after a long week of debate. The following week was filled of meetings about the 'exam' that will be put out for all the teens throughout Allied Villages. Those who passed will also take a physical and mental test, dwindling the number of candidates for the mission. The event took three days to complete and only seven had manage to produce the acceptable level of talent that she was looking for.

"The seven of you are the only one who manage to pass the test." The Hokage said, looking at the teens in front of her. "And some had even exceeded our expectations. As you already know, the test was only a guise in order to segregate individuals who shows a strong affinity with a certain talent." She explained noticing the looks of understanding in the faces of the group.

"With that, we are assigning a special mission to the seven of you." Kushina continued and nodded at Rin who passed folders to the group.

The Hokage stayed silent as she processed the reaction of the teens before her. Some had a bored faces, while some are exited, yet all of them gave off a determined air around their figure as they read the objective of the mission.

"Are there any objections?" Kushina asked as they closed their folders, she was answered by a negative shake of heads. "Very well, I'll assign you to your positions for this mission."

"Hatake Kakashi" Kushina began, a smirk graced his lips as she saw the tallest individual straightened his lazed posture. "You will be in charge this mission, seeing as you have the most experience when it comes to the public situations, you will send your progress via your summoning, electronics can be tracked back and I don't want any chances. Your results in the last test are in the folder."

Kakashi took his folder from Rin and scanned his individual assignment, he flipped the pages until he got to the last page. 'Lightning Affinity and minor Mist affinity'

"Subaku Gaara" Kushina said next.

Calling out a pale red head from the group. The teen came from the Desert Village in Sahara and son of the current Kazekage. He was of below average height and wore a red tunic and dark trouser tucked in knee length boots, a very different attire from his usual clothes, and the large gourd he always carried around his person. Gaara has a tattoo on the left side of his forehead, and wore his Suna hitae-ate loosely around is neck. The red haired has pale blue green eyes was surrounded by black eye rings -the Hokage suspects that the teen suffers insomnia- and his expression is always blank lacking any hint on his thoughts.

"You are the second in command, you are in charge of the safety of the group since you specialize in defense." Kushina added, getting a nod from the silent boy. "You can know your affinity in your folder."

Rin handed the folder to the younger teen. Gaara skipped the first two pages and read his results. "Cloud Affinity and Storm.." the teen murmured.

"Nara Shikamaru, you are in-charge of tactics and planning, this includes forging any documents that needs to be legalized or otherwise. Make sure you work it out with Kakashi since their clan specialized in any technology related stuff." the Hokage said, ignoring the soft 'troublesome' from the Nara.

The Nara heir has the most ordinary appearance from the seven. He has an average height and wore a black fishnet shirt underneath a sleeved vest which was opened. A dark khaki shorts and a plated sandal. Hitae-ate tied securely on his right bicep. His face is a younger version of Shikaku, his black hair is tied into a high ponytail giving an appearance of a pineapple and his ears were pierced with black earrings a sign that they are an adult in their clan. Despite his appearance Shikamaru is one of the genius in his generation, getting an IQ of 200, one of the highest in their clan.

Without any word, Rin gave the raven his folder and the teen flipped the pages with a lethargic pace.

Shikamaru blink as he saw his affinity. "Rain..."

"Rock Lee" Kushina called, noticing the boy perked up at his name. "You are in charge of health and training-" the Hokage was cut off as a loud exclamation of youth rang in the air.

Rock Lee was an adopted son of Might Guy who found the child abandoned in an alleyway, when the man was assigned info gathering somewhere in Southeast Asia. Lee was basked in the 'youth' of Guy since his early childhood and no one was surprised when the boy was suited like his father figure when he reached ten. Wearing a full body green spandex suit and orange leg warmers, and together with a bowl cut hairstyle. Lee was the definition of peculiar.

His skills however made up for his 'youthful' appearance, being an expert taijutsu at twelve was a huge feat already but the boy had another goal to reach, being a gun expert. He once saw the Akimichi's test their prototype and Lee had immediately fallen in love with the weapon, after he gained his title as an expert in taijutsu, the teen proceeded to being apprenticed by Choujima, a veteran in weapon production, who had taken liking to the energetic boy.

Knowing that the Hokage's patience was very short and before older female snapped, Rin immediately silenced the boy by slamming a rolled folder on the loud teen's head. Lee immediately and politely apologized and read his result.

"Yosh! I have the Sun affinity!" Lee shouted in a lower volume yet still manage to get glares from his roommates. "...and Forest?" he added as he saw another affinity below the first one.

The Hokage sighed and assigned the next person. "Yuki Haku."

Kushina eyed the teen, the Kiri agent has the most affinity in the group.

The Yukis were known for their affinity with anything related to cold, due to their bloodline. At first glance one would mistake the teen for being a female because of his appearance, having a long hair and feminine body structure, one would need a confirmation from the boy to know his gender. He wore a dark blue sleeved turtle neck shirt and a fur lined vest, a blue camouflage pants tucked in bandages and ankle length boots.A red cross symbolizing that the teen was a medical practitioner, was etched at the back of his vest. His long hair was tied in a loose bun at the base of his neck, symmetrical bangs framed the sides of his face and his hitae-ate was tied on his forehead. Dull gray eyes was alert and guarded.

"You are in charge of medical care for the group and accommodation during your stay in the public. You can ask Kakashi for some ideas."

"Understood." the teen replied while taking the folder from Rin.

Haku silently read his folder and gazed at his results. He noticed that he has two types, one for the Flames of the Sky and two for the Flames of the Earth. 'Storm, Snow and Ice' he thought.

"Ino Yamanaka" Kushina proceeded to the next person. "You are in charge information gathering and cover-up. Also as a personal favor, please keep the boys in line." Kushina added with a grin, getting some eye rolls from the males.

Kushina fondly remembered the girl being a spitfire in her childhood, loud, brash and a fangirl -thankfully she passed that stage-. Now that she manned up, so to speak, she grew up into a respectable and independent teen. She had recently gained a position in the T&amp;I (Torture and Interrogation Department) and heard that she manage to par with Anko in making their victims cry under a timed contest.

Ino was the daughter of Inoichi, making her the heiress of the Yamanaka Clan. She was an inch taller than the average height. Pale blonde hair tied in a high ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a skin tight fishnet shirt and a pale lavender vest cut in midriff was the only garment that covered her chest. Matching lavender shorts that ends on her mid thigh, she completed the attire with bandages that covered her appendages and white plated sandals.

The only girl in the group took her folder for the female practitioner and read her result. "Mist Affinity huh." She muttered.

She was no illusionist but she apprenticed under Kurenai during her childhood and ranked 8th out of ten genjutsu users in the village.

"Lastly, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto" Kushina announced the last person, she purposely left out her son since she was sure that there will be an outburst in excitement.

No one had expected the blond to pass since most people had only seen him as a happy go lucky boy, a loud and brash person, and lastly a prankster. However, being his mother has its own benefits that is, she knows Naruto very welll. Uzumaki Mito, Kushina's aunt, had seen the boy's latent talent in sealing when she visited when Naruto was only seven. Mito took Naruto under her wing and nurtured the boy's talent in Whirlpool Village and after three years of being taught by a master of the sealing arts, Naruto acquired the 6th level in sealing. Kushina was proud of her son, it was a rare feat for a child to get that rank, Mito had even told her that Naruto might be a genius in the area. The Hokage didn't deny nor agree to her aunt's question.

Naruto wore a black tank top covered by his favorite orange jacket and -thankfully- black pants tucked in bandages, and black combat boots. His hitae-ate was tied on his forehead.

"You are in charge for the security and the well being of your teammates. You need to work with Gaara and in case that your identity is found out, I will allow you to use reverse summoning." Kushina assigned. Getting a serious nod from the blond.

Rin handed the folder to the now cheery blond and the boy quickly read his result.

"Sky Affinity?" Naruto questioned, only getting a nod from his mother.

Kushina had suspected that Sky flames are inherited, since Naruto was the only one who can produce that type of flame out of all teens who took the exam. But none had came out from her home country, that only leaves the possibility that the Namikazes are the only Sky flame users in the Hidden Villages.

"Three days from now you will start your mission, so use your given time wisely. There will be a plane that will send you off at 1600 so do not be late." Kushina added, looking directly at the silver teen who gave a nonchalant shrug.

"Dismissed."

* * *

Namimori Middle: 1900

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna shouted in alarm as he saw the wound the silver haired teen got from barely dodging a knife to the head.

The brunet watched his friend tactically retreated from his opponent. A blonde boy that was a year or two older from them. His hair was cut with bangs that covered the upper part of his face and his psychotic grin was the only distinct feature in his face. He wore a striped long sleeved shirt under a fashionable leather trench coat and black leather pants tucked under combat boots. A slanted tiara on top of his blond locks.

The Vongola team watched the battle with utmost attention, giving out a worried outburst when the silver haired gained another wound in his body. It was a one sided fight as blond continued to pressure the bomber into a room.

It was three days ago that the Battle for the Vongola rings had begun and they had won the Sun and Lightning rings.

Tsuna remembered the time his group officially met the Varia. An independent assassination group of Vongola who was lead by Xanxus, the grandson of the current boss Timoteo. He was a tall raven haired teen, tanned and with his red eyes set on a perpetual glare and add some scars, the Varia boss has a very intimidating appearance. Tsuna darkly remembered the time where they tried to kill off the girls and the kids when they went out that late afternoon, the brunet and his friends manage to arrive in time to fend off an attack that was meant for the Bovino.

He was determined that nothing like that will happen again, and it was that notion that stayed at the back of his mind that keeps him standing up again after a grueling training with Reborn and Basil, the protege of his dad.

A scowl marred the brunet's soft features as he felt the surge of jealousy in his heart. His father was a complete douche, leaving his mother alone for most of the years and only went home to laze around in boxers, drunk. He would've understand since he was an outside adviser of the CEDEF, but the least the man can do was call his wife weekly and visit her in their anniversary and birthday. How much does a three day visit can affect the Famiglia out of all the 365 days in a year?

Tsuna inhaled deeply and exhaled the air slowly, his temper was getting shorter when it comes to his father, it was best to lock his thoughts away from the present. Thinking of his mother's smile when Iemitsu had come home.

The brunet glanced at the surrounding trees at the back of their school when he felt the prickly sensation of being watched, dark brown eyes darted from one tree to another until he stopped at one particular tree. There was nothing in there as far as Tsuna can see.

Reborn glanced at his student when the teen continued to look at their surroundings, knowing that the famed intuition of Vongola is acting up again. The black haired toddler glanced at the place Tsuna kept looking back at, he didn't feel anything, letting him know that it was a very skilled person if he/she managed to get undetected under his watch.

Tsuna finally ignored the feeling, and focused back to Gokudera's fight which the silver haired teen is now winning, the brunet took a glance at Reborn and saw the hitman was staring at the place he was looking before.

Hatake Kaskashi held his breath as the scrawny teen looked directly on his position. He read the the info about the famed Vongola intuition and experiencing it at first hand was very disturbing.

The team had arrived in Namimori via train from Tokyo, they rode a plane from China beforehand as an added insurance and the rest were forged paperworks that was 'legalized' -background, passports and other legalities-. Kakashi immediately assigned scouting mission to half of the team and rest were ordered to finalize their accommodations. Naruto in south, Shikamaru in east, Ino in north and he was in charge of the west where the school is located.

He read an update that the Ring Battle has started and it was currently the battle for the Storm Ring. So he was not surprised when the sounds of shattered glass and falling tables reached his ears when he was ten meters away from the gate. Kakashi was wondering how the Mafia had manage to keep the public sleeping peacefully, and then he saw a pair of Cervello girls at the corner of the school, their attention was fully placed on a device that was being powered by the females' mist flame.

'Ah, so that's how...' the silver haired teen thought.

As he double checked his presence -its now undetectable- and the camouflaged technique he used was still in place. Without any sound the tall teen entered the gates and swiftly hid in the nature, making sure that he can't be seen and sensed by the people.

Kakashi let out an inaudible sigh as the brunet focused back on the screen, he tilted his head as another pair of eyes landed on his position. It was the Sun Arcobaleno, the toddler was looking at the general direction of his hiding place but not his exact position. Revealing that the hitman is aware of his existence but not his presence, specializing in subterfuge and espionage has its own merits, the teen thought.

The hidden teen kept an eye on the toddler and began filing out the people watching the battle. There was the Sun Arcobaleno, Vongola heir, Sasagawa, Yamamoto, Basil, Gokudera ,Shamal, the 5 Cervello agents scattered in the grounds, ten Varia squad, 'Sword Emperor' Squalo, Mamon the Mist Arcobaleo, the the tall guy with weird piercings -Levi I think-, Belphegor, the Storm Guardian of the Varia and the Gola Mosca. There were no other notable characters in the area so he entertained himself by watching the fight. But Kakashi noticed something odd about the Cloud Guardian of Varia, it seems that ithides a life force inside it, he will need another look at the man the second chance he get to see him up close.

'Something's fishy is going with the Varia..' he thought and resumed his observation.

He observed the Mafiosos until the battle reached its end.

In the end Gokudera won the battle but lost the ring, leaving the hysteric blond under the mercy of the timed bombs in the third floor. Kakashi smiled at the message that the Vongola Heir gave to his Storm Guardian, the bonds of friendship will be strong in this group, the question is, how long will the bonds lengthened until it snapped?

Minutes after the Vongola group left, the Varia dug out the barely alive yet still grinning Storm user. Kakashi was surprised to see the teen survive, he suppose the Varia has maintained the quality of their assassins, he idly noted and moved on a different hidden spot, gaining a better vantage view, and saw a certain toddler entering a secret hideout.

"He must have checked the surveillance..." Kakashi muttered quietly.

Without any word nor a congratulations the Varia left, leaving the rest of the Cervello to tidy up the destroyed floor. The tall teen raised an eyebrow as he saw an army of builders and trucks filled of school furniture entered the gates and parked at the front of school building, with an hour the school has been rebuilt, although there are some damages that were still visible. Another band of trucks entered, this time they were stacked with glass, and after thirty minutes the school was back in his old appearance and only the most observant one can see the slight altercation.

Kakashi entered the school, his camouflage technique still in place, and with grace of a cat he stalked the rooms. Only entering an opened classroom lest he attract the attention of the Arcobaleno. After the rooms he entered the gym via window, then the sports field in the back of the school, marking the hidden cameras and seals in every nook and cranny of the edifice. Scouting the school took two hours to finish and he still need to scout the surrounding houses in the vicinity and also the nearby Namimori Elementary. He was thankful when he sensed the Arcobaleno leaving the area thirty minutes ago, the pressure of being under watch was now gone.

* * *

Rooftop of one of Namimori's resident: 0200

"Report." Kaskashi ordered as the last of the scout finally arrived.

They had assembled on top of nondescript house, near the edge of the school district, they couldn't risk to be found out this early in their mission.

Shikamaru stepped forward yawning all the while. " Business and market district is on surveillance." He started and handed a map with red and green cross marks and some blue circles. "Greens are the seals that needs an upgrade, I noticed some deterioration on some their section, the red one are made by the hitman and the blue circles are the local surveillance."

Kakashi glanced at Naruto who nodded at the silent order to check up on the seals, and took the map from Shikamaru.

"These are the information I gathered from the local Yakuza, they have a low numbers and its due to one Hibari Kyoya sweeping out some criminals, these past two weeks." Shikamaru added as he handed a folder to their leader. "The Police Force has a very low security, I infiltrated their command center and copied the recent activities they gathered these past two weeks.

"I scouted the hotels in the area and found the headquarters of the Varia, they rented three floors in the hotel and marked their sleeping quarters. The Cavallone boss also reside in one of the hotels although the boss is nowhere to be found, presumably training the Cloud Guardian in the forest" The Nara heir held in a yawn and continued his report. "Also Storm Guardian Gokudera Hayato lives in an apartment outside of the market district. I also found out our target's location under the guise of a ramen shop, it was secured with illusions so I only manage to get minimum information."

Kakashi nodded as he took another folder from the Nara heir, it was thicker than the first one.

"Ino." Kaskashi said.

"The shopping district is also in surveillance." Ino began as the girl handed a map with red and green crosses. "The seals are fully functioning, the red ones are the hitman's marks and the green one's are the public surveillance."

"I found out the locations of the residence of the Sasagawas and Hibari. The former housed the Rain Arcobaleno Colonelo while the latter was only resided by maids, the owner was nowhere to be found, so I manage to copy some paperworks for the school admin and also discovered a connection of the Hibaris to an underground network, it seems his family is leading a secret organization under the Japanese and American government." Ino blinked out the tiredness from her eyes and continued her report. "I also copied the school information via CD and other notable documents in the Hibari household."

Kakashi held in a smile as the girl handed him a less heavy report.

"Naruto." The team leader said, knowing that he gave the largest district for the boy to scout.

"I updated the seals in my area and noted the surveillance made by the Arcobaleno." Naruto began, rubbing the tiredness off of his eyes.

"I found the residence of the Yamamotos and Sawadas. The former has a dojo at the back where the Vongola Rain Guardian trains and I haven't infiltrated the latter, since the house was full." Naruto continued. "Although I manage to get the current accommodation of the current Mist Guardian and company, they were in an abandoned amusement park further south, near the border of Kokuyo and continued scouting the famed forest of death, and saw the Cavallone Boss training/fighting the Cloud Guardian, the fight was endless given the trail of destruction. At the deeper part of the forest, I saw some hints of fighting in a clearing and also a camp site near the cliff area. I presume this is where the Vongola Heir trains his new technique"

As the blond handed his folder and Kaskashi began to summarize his mission, giving them an order of the to keep an eye on the Gola Mosca. After 20 minutes they ended their meeting, and shun-shined to their house.

The house they bought was located somewhere near the middle of Namimori, and near the residence area. It was a simple two story house with 5 bedrooms and the standard living areas. They also rented two apartments, one in the business area and one near the shopping district. Naruto, Gaaara, Lee, Shikamaru and Haku will take the house, Ino will take the apartment near the business area and Kakashi will reside in the apartment near the shopping district.

The team needs another day to finalize their backgrounds, buy attires and search for some furniture and other miscellaneous needs. They have a really long day tomorrow.

The scouting team bid their goodbyes as the other two shun-shined to their respective accommodations, tired and sleep deprived, the the spies of the Hidden Nation was asleep before their heads hit their pillows.

* * *

A/N: Hello! so you might question why Kakashi is teen in this story, to be blunt I butchered up the Naruto timeline and now it's somewhat at AU with Mafia on top. Hehe, so questions, comments and ideas please let me know~ just type it in your reviews -I need some love guys!-. Coming up next is the official meeting of the Naruto group with the Vongola, so expect some fighting scenes and humor in the next chap! Thanks for viewing this story XD

P.S.: I added some missing characters in the Varia so, you might want to reread this chap.


	4. Meeting the Exchange Students

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and KHR.**

* * *

Sawada Household 0530```

A large booming sound erupted in a certain room in the Sawada residence, not a second later a shriek followed by an all too frequented shout of 'Reborn!'

Tsunayoshi Sawada was not having a good morning, scratch that, since when did he have a 'good' morning when the child devil came into his life? The brunet thought as he scrambled to wear his sweats, dodging bullets as Reborn ordered to start his exercise routine. It was 0530 and the sun was still not out, the frigid morning air bit his skin as he exited the house. Despite wearing a jacket Tsuna gave off a shiver.

Another shot of bullet pierced the silent morning and without a word the brunet dashed away from his place. Still questioning how his neighbors still sleep with the amount of noise in the area.

"Ten rounds Dame-Tsuna!" Reborn shouted as he saw his student disappear from the corner.

Reborn sat on top of the gates drinking his morning espresso, he was contemplating about the exchange students that will enroll tomorrow. His spies had reported that they arrived yesterday at 1600, and stayed in one of the sold houses outside of the residential area and an apartment near the business district, there were no suspicious actions aside from their eccentric habits.

The exchange students studied under different school in different countries, however each school was funded by an international company and in order to promote their name the company decided to start an exchange program and sent letters to schools around the Asian continents. In a chance of luck Namimori was chosen, although Reborn has suspicions but with the extensive background research he conducted as a side project his doubts was laid to rest but that does not mean that he wont keep an eye on the group.

'05:23' Reborn marked the time as the short brunet passed the starting point. 'He's improving.'

The first time the brunet ran a lap he took 30 minutes, granted that the jogging trail the Sun Arcobaleno marked was a kilometer long, but it was not an excuse, the brunet was simply out of shape. Reborn decided that by end of the Vongola heir's training the one kilometer lap will be finished under 3 minutes.

Another 4 laps finished and Reborn noticed that his student was late, the timer has already passed the 7 minute mark than the usual below 6 minutes.

Meanwhile...

"Ah! Sorry, I was not looking at my way!" Tsuna bowed in a respectful manner as he quickly stood up from the ground. He was lost in thoughts about the battle yesterday and just blanked out his surroundings. He was snapped out his musings when he bumped with another person.

"That's alright! My Youthful friend manage to catch me on time!" A loud cheery voice shouted.

Tsuna hid a wince as he remembered Ryohei, the person was as loud as the boxer. The brunet straightened and finally looked at the person he crashed into.

The first thing he can say about the teen was eccentric - he has no other way of politely describing the teen before him-. The boy has a large eyes under a patch of thick pair eyebrows, and wears a green tracking suit with orange leg warmers, his hair was styled in a bowl cut and his grin was... was another teen beside the grinning one. He was short, although taller than him if he exclude his gravity defying hair, and has bright golden locks held back by an orange sweat band. The blond wore a black sweat pants and a burnt orange long sleeved shirt. Tsuna was awed as he saw the color of the teen's eyes, it was a deep blue color near oceanic like and on his cheeks were a peculiar whisker marks, three on each side.

"Ah, gomen. Are you new here?" Tsuna asked since he knew the residents in the area by appearance. He might as well befriend them if they recently transferred here, they look friendly enough and his intuition was not acting up. "My name's Sawada Tsunayoshi by the way. You can call me Tsuna for short."

"You are a very Youthful person Tsuna-san!, running in the town this early in the morning shows your Youthfulness. I am Rock Lee and my Youthful friend here is Namikaze Naruto." the youthful teen introduced.

Tsuna sweat dropped at the amount of Youth in the sentence.

"Yo." Namikaze greeted with a two fingered salute. "Yeah, we're the exchange students from overseas." the blond added a distinct accent in his dialogue.

'Exchange students?' Tsuna thought trying to remember any notice the school gave. He came up blank.

"Tsuna-san! Do you happen to Youthfully know where the park is?" Lee asked with vigor.

"A-ah, it's west of here, just g-go straight ahead and take the third left. T-the park is just around the corner." Tsuna directed with a stutter.

"Thank you for those Youthful directions, Tsuna-san! Come on Naruto-kun we need to show our Youth to the world!" Lee shouted and ran towards the given directions.

Tsuna saw Naruto shake his head in exasperation. "Well then, Tsuna-san see you around. Ja ne" the blond waved and with a smile he ran after his energetic friend.

The brunet looked at the taller teen until the boy disappeared in the corner. There was something about that whiskered blond that feel's familiar, the thought is at the tip of his tongue and for the life of him can't spell it out. Tsuna shrugged off the feeling and returned to his run.

BANG!

A very familiar gunshot rang in the air as Tsuna arrived back at the staring point, freaking the hell out of the brunet who shrieked like a banshee.

"Reborn!" the brunet reprimanded.

"You're late Dame-Tsuna. It's three minutes past your usual time." Reborn idly said as he holstered his gun.

"W-wait, t-time? You timed my laps?" Tsuna asked, the only reply he got is a gunshot, with a resigned sigh the brunet continued his run.

The familiar feeling of Reborn sitting on top his head was registered by his body and brunet corrected his posture he does not want any more bruise on his head if he unbalanced Reborn.

"You're slowing down Dame-Tsuna." Reborn casually said.

Tsuna picked up his pace, he was slowly getting used to the burning feeling in his calves, the first time he felt the pain it was unbearable. They neared the park and Tsuna heard a very familiar voice shouting youth, and it was followed by a string of curses said in English. The brunet continued his run until he saw the two teens he met earlier.

They are running around the park in a very fast pace, nearly matching Ryohei's speed, and it seems the two were locked in a contest as he continued to watch the teens outspeed each other. Tsuna didn't noticed that he stopped and watch the competition with vague interest.

"Friends of yours?" Reborn asked, noticing the recognition in the eyes of the student.

"A-ah, I bumped into them earlier. T-they are the exchange students from overseas." Tsuna explained.

"Ha! I win Lee! That's my third win against two of yours!" the accented voice of Naruto echoed, and noticed Tsuna standing at the edge of the park, with a toddler in suit on top of his gravity defying hair.

"Tsuna-san!" Lee greeted with a wave, motioning the brunet to come in their bench.

With a not so gentle nudge Reborn made, an order to go to the two teens, Tsuna can only comply in resignation.

"Hello." Tsuna meekly greeted, he didn't know what to talk about since they had recently met, he was starting to feel the awkwardness.

"Are you here to join our Youthful exercise?" the wide eyed boy asked with a loud cheer.

"A-ano. Actua-" The brunet was immediately cut of by the squeaky voice of his tutor.

"Yes, Dame-Tsuna here will join your training." Reborn replied, getting raised eyebrows from the two teens.

"Who's the little guy?" Naruto asked with his usual accent as he drank from a water bottle.

"My name's Reborn, tutor of Dame-Tsuna and world's greatest hitman." the Arcobaleno introduced himself in an offhanded manner.

"That's one child genius you have there Tsuna." the whiskered blond replied after staring at the toddler in the eyes. "Although being a hitman in that age is impossible." he added not noticing the panicked warning look the brunet gave.

Before the Arcobaleno draws his gun Tsuna immediately rejoined the conversation.

"A-anyway!" Tsuna interrupted. "What w-were you two doing before hand?"

"We were having a contest on who can Youthfully run 3 kilometers the fastest!" Lee answered joyously

'Three kilometers!? That's unbelievable! Only 7 minutes has passed since I last saw them.' Tsuna thought in alarm.

"Since you're going to join our morning workout, how about you join our contests." Tsuna looked at Naruto who suggested while stretching his arms. "It's your first time so you can decide what kind of contest, although as long as it's physical."

"What a Youthful idea Naruto-kun!What you say Tsuna-san?" Lee added his thoughts.

Tsuna looked at the two smiling teens, and he really can't say no to those expecting faces. The brunet nodded, and felt Reborn jump off of his head.

"W-what have you guys done so far?" Tsuna asked with an uneasy smile, he got the feeling that by the time the sun is fully out he won't have a single win to tally with the other two.

* * *

Market District: 0615

Nana Sawada hummed as she inspected the produce before her. The Sawada matriarch was of average height, with dark brown hair cut just above her shoulder and eyes that was filled with happiness that only added to the youthful appearance of the woman despite nearing her forties. Wearing a floral patterned blouse, a light blue knee high skirt and a pair of doll shoes, Nana Sawada continued to scourge the market for more ingredients.

'Tsu-kun was really early this morning.' Nana idly noted as she heard a loud bang in her son's room at 0530. 'My little Tsu-kun is growing up...Ah I need to hurry up! the kids will wake up anytime now.' She thought and searched for the final produce in her mental list.

With the last ingredient of it being a cantaloupe the brunette went into the fruit section, her eyes immediately landed on a particularly large and ripe cantaloupe. She was glad that there were no other costumers this early in the morning, with eagerness she wrapped her hand around the fruit and abruptly stopped as she felt a tug on the other side of the fruit.

Nana blinked. "Are?" and looked at the owner of the hand.

It was another woman, a girl she corrected herself, as she saw the soft features of the teen. She has a raven hair that reached her mid back and two bangs that framed her delicate face. The younger girl was wearing a pale lavender hoodie and khaki shorts, and a pair of slippers. Dull gray eyes meet dark brown one.

Nana was a stubborn woman, despite being an optimist and pacifist at heart, she can and will put her foot down if situation needs it and there are rarely any situation that needs her stubborn side, the exception is when she goes shopping. Women, or more specific mothers, have a tendency to go wild when they buy foods and clothes and you can only get great foods if you 'fight' for it.

The two were left in a standoff, neither had let go of the fruit until an annoyed voice interrupted.

"Oi, Haku! What's the wait for?" A voice asked as it's owner rounded in the corner.

Nana looked at the male teen who clearly know the female before her. He was of average height, his black hair is tied into a high ponytail reminding Nana of a certain tropical fruit, his features were sharp but relaxed at the same time, almost lazy. He was wearing a dark green jacket, a deep blue pajama and a rubber slipper.

"Ah, Shikamaru-san I was just getting desert." the girl, now named Haku, replied in a soft voice although her accent was a bit stiff. Nana noted the girl's voice was a bit deep for the usual high pitch tone.

"You already got enough fruits for the whole week." the pajama clad male replied. "Hurry up, those two might be already home." he added

"Very well." The female replied.

"Troublesome. I'm going ahead, I'll wait for you at the counter." the teen informed, turning back from the isle he came from.

"I am sorry for any inconvenience I made." Haku apologized with a bow giving the prized fruit the brunette.

"No need, to apologize. Although thank you for the fruit. I'm Sawada Nana by the way." the brunette replied genially.

"Yuki Haku." the raven haired introduced, helping the older woman put the heavy fruit in her basket.

"I haven't seen you before. Are you new here?" Nana asked, starting a conversation as the two walked towards the counter.

"Yes, I'm an exchange student from overseas. I will be studying in Namimori Middle starting tomorrow." the younger one explained, her voice nearly monotonic.

"Ah." Nana recalled the rumors that the Namimori Middle was chosen to house overseas students from an exchange program. "How do you like the town so far?"

"It's...very friendly." Haku replied looking at Nana in the eyes.

The older woman smiled, getting the notion that the reply was directed at her.

As the two neared the counter, Nana saw the boy before. He was scanning some magazines while holding a cart filled with grocery items and some fruits. The male looked bored and annoyed.

"Oh, I shouldn't keep you from your boyfriend, you can go ahead. I forgot to get some spices." Nana said, she assumed the two were a couple since they seemed close.

"Boyfriend?" Haku replied in a confused tone.

"Are? You're not a couple?" Nana asked, getting a negative shake of head.

"A-ah, gomene. I assumed that you two are a couple..." the brunette replied lamely, and embarrassed blush peppered her cheeks.

"He's my housemate, along with three other boys." The raven replied with a small tilt on her lips.

"Isn't that hard for you Haku-san? Being the only girl in the house?" Nana asked, there were some boys who are the type to take advantage of the situation, it can end ugly for the girl before her.

The brunette was confused when the girl before her chuckled, hiding her lips in a half attempt to hide her laugh. Nana got the feeling that the girl was not laughing at her but at her question.

"I'm a boy Nana-san, so you shouldn't worry about me getting roughed up. I can defend myself very well." Haku replied getting a shocked expression from the older woman. "I'll go ahead, see you around Nana-san" the boy left with a small wave.

* * *

Namimori Middle. 0700

The morning of the early students of the Namimori Middle was walk in a landmine filled compound, every step is taken with caution and every action is thought twice, some had even double checked their uniforms for any creases. Why, you ask? The students will only give you one single name.

Hibari Kyoya.

The chief of the Disciplinary Committee, has returned. And he's not happy, to whom or what, the curious ones can only speculate.

Stalking the corridors of the Namimori Middle was the Head of the D.C. himself, glaring at the sweating students who passed by. It was still early for those herbivores -Tsuna and company- and he can only bid his time, his hands were itching to bite those herbivores to death for vandalizing the school, not to mention the half assed repairs those pink herbivores -Cervello- made to cover the damages.

He arrived 4 in the morning after he had finished'training' with the stupid Bronco, and he immediately checked the surveillance, forgoing sleep for the sake of his duty. By the end of scanning the 120 hour footage, his anger nearly reached its boiling point. The Ring Battles had made changes in his school, without his permission nonetheless and caused damages in the building. He held his temper in, he can have all the time biting those herbivores this evening. If the footage is correct, the Rain Battle will start at 1900.

The last bell chimed, signaling the start of classes, students outside the school gate ran inside when they saw Hibari guarding the entrance. Minutes later, the raven saw the two running silhouettes of the herbivores nearing the school. Without a sound the Head of DC brandished his tonfas and ran towards the two, noticing that the tall herbivore is absent. He dismissed the thought and continued with his hunt.

Hibari made the first strike, taking the silver haired one unawares with a strike to the abdomen, followed by a kick behind the knees. The fallen Storm Guardian let out a shout but was immediately silenced by a tonfa to the head.

Hibari held back at the last strike, making sure that the herbivore will only get a mild concussion from the blow.

"G-Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna shouted in alarm when his friend was attacked. They were late again.

It was his fault, honestly. He was distracted by the competitions he made with Lee and Naruto earlier this morning. The two were so eager that he caught the competitive drive they have, it was the first time he enjoyed a hard workout without complains on his part. They were in the middle of climbing the tallest tree in the park -he was the last, the other two are already a quarter away form the tallest branch- when Naruto offhandedly told the time to Lee who asked the question. When the blond said 0715, Tsuna panicked, nearly falling if not for the strong grip he had on a branch -Reborn went ahead of him to get breakfast when they were on the 3rd contest leaving his student. With a hasty scramble to the ground, the brunet fired an excuse and waved goodbye to the two. Not seeing the cheery wave of Lee as he was standing at the very top of the tree.

Tsuna looked at their assailant and shivered at the feeling of dread when he locked eyes with Hibari Kyoya.

"H-h-hibari-san!" Tsuna said in surprise. 'He's back!' his mind shouted in terror.

The brunet shrieked in fright when the raven attacked without a word. He dodged the first strike, then the second and then the follow up strikes until it became an evasive routine for the shorter teen. After 10 minutes, Tsuna slowed down getting tired from dodging, despite his training his stamina is still poor. He shouted in pain when Hibari slammed his tonfa on his shoulder with deadly accuracy, another blow on his ribs left the teen gasping it was followed by a strike on his left arm.

'He's stronger now!' Tsuna thought with panic as he dodged the strike to his flank, carrying his numb limb. However he still has to keep his title as a dame, and with a sudden surprise appearance, Tsuna tripped.

'Of all times why NOW?' he cried internally.

Tsuna fell down and scrambled away from the blow that was coming straight on his temple. The brunet squeezed his eyes shut preparing himself for the painful blow that was sure to come.

BANG!

The Vongola heir blinked when he felt no pain, he looked up and saw Hibari glaring at Reborn who interrupted the fight. Tsuna glanced around and saw Hibari's tonfa a few feet away from the raven, a small dent made by a bullet was seen at the middle.

"Akambo." Hibari said his voice was filled with ire.

"Ciaossu, Hibari." Reborn replied jumping down from the tree branch. "I see that Bronco is finished with your training."

"Hn." was the only reply the toddler got.

"I'll meet you in your office this afternoon." Reborn subtly ordered, getting a glare from the raven but the hitman ignored it.

"Tsuna, you should get going, you already missed the first class." Reborn said. "You should get Gokudera to the clinic too, both of you need first aid."

Tsuna blinked in confusion, but the moment he heard the name of his Storm Guardian he immediately stood up and helped the now conscious silver head hobble towards the school. The bomber was cursing beneath his breath on how he can't protect his Juudaime.

Hibari watched limping duo until they entered the school, the baby already left without a word. Letting out a silent sigh, the Head of the DC picked up his tonfa and entered the school, jacket fluttering under the soft breeze.

"Excuse me." A smooth baritone voice said directly behind the raven.

Hibari froze as he glanced sideways to see the person that was a few feet behind him. He was impressed that the teen was able to sneak up behind him without projecting his presence, revealing that the teen has some worthy fighting skills. This day might be getting better for the Head of DC, besides he still has some energy left from the fight before. Turning around he faced the person with a blood thirsty look in his eyes.

The teen was an inch short from the average height, wearing a red polo shirt and a black sleeveless vest, his pants were a dark brown color and wore a black and red messenger back across his back. He has dark red hair and has a very pale complexion. The teen's pale blue green eyes was surrounded by black lining, similar to a raccoon.

Without a word Hibari charged at the teen, tonfas flashed into existence.

The red head raised a non-existent eyebrow, and jump a few feet back from the slashes, his bangs flowed with his movement showing his tattoo. He read the bio of the raven before him and knew that the silver eyed teen was a battle addict, but to attack a civilian with the slight sign of strength was preposterous.

'He's either bored or had a bad day...' The red head thought, throwing his bag a few feet from a tree not far from his position.

Hibari watched idly as the red head threw his bag, and performed a stance. Feet apart, left hand positioned close the body while the right was extended outward. The raven vaguely remembered the style is similar to the Philippine martial arts, it's called Eskrima if he remembered correctly.

Without prompting the raven attacked, closing on the red head with great speed. Raising his tonfa high, Hibari slammed the weapon on the opening he can see, but he was stopped halfway through when a pale hand grabbed the weapon. He quickly followed up with an uppercut strike, however he was too late when the red head made a few precise strikes on his wrist joints, loosening his grip on his weapon.

The red head tugged the weapon out of the raven's hand, and evaded the uppercut, dodging the strike narrowly when he felt the weapon grazed his chin. His fighting style ws more on defense turned offence so for every strike the raven made, he will either redirect it, or create an opening for an attack. Tonfa in hand the shorter teen held the weapon like those of a stick, -the shorter edge of the tonfa- and countered with a few strikes of his own.

Hibari glared when the red head took his tonfa, and defended himself from the red head's counter. The raven decided to up the battle and made a low sweep kick, which the red head blocked with a low kick, Hibari was not deterred and made a high kick, twisting his body from his position on the the ground. The raven felt his kick being blocked, however he used the momentum from his last kick to do a handstand and spun in mid air, he manage to land a kick to the red head's abdomen and landed swiftly on solid ground.

The silver eyed teen looked at his opponent and raised an eyebrow when the red head showed no visible pain from the kick. He had put enough force to cause internal damage and the pale teen didn't even flinch. The first bout only lasted less than fifteen seconds and Hibari thirst for more.

The two circled each other. Hibari was in a relaxed stance idly twirling his tonfa in his right hand, while the red head was looking at the raven with a critical eye, tonfa raised at eye level and right hand extended slightly forward in an open palm.

In a blink of an eye, the two attacked. Hibari on defensive while the red head performed sweeping attacks in a flowing 8 figure.

Hibari was pressured in a figurative corner, having enough. The raven closed in and engaged in hand-to-hand. The two were a flurry of punches and tonfas, loud clangs of metal echoed in the school yard.

The read red head jumped back evading a high kick from the raven. He manage to land the last hit on their second bout disabling the right arm by attacking the nerve ends in the joint. The victim will feel temporary numbness from the elbow downwards. He raised a nonexistent eyebrow when the raven let out a smirk.

"Wao, you're strong. Your name, herbivore." Hibari asked as he undid the damage in his right arm by hitting a few nerve points below his elbow.

"Subaku Gaara." the now name red head replied.

Wordlessly the two readied for another bout, stances now more guarded and eyes watched critically on their opponent's movements. They were a second away from attacking each other when a voice interrupted.

"Hibari-san! Please wait Hibari-san!" A stout man was running towards them hands waving in the air.

Out of politeness Gaara undid his stance and stood straight, getting an annoyed glare from the raven.

Komura Kenta was in between a rock and a hard place. Being the school principal is a hard effort when you are under the watch of the school's Head of the Disciplinary Committee on a daily basis. He was also under pressure when the director of the school has high expectations of you, and to keep that good grace -and job- he must do 'anything' that will lead to Namimori School getting a positive reputation from the public.

The problem is, that 'anything' is to stop Hibari from murdering the exchange student. The fight from before had taken the attention of the school population and the information of an unknown teen being able to fight the Head of DC on equal grounds was an information worth sharing. Somehow that news has manage to get into the hands of the director who was in a meeting in Tokyo, and recognized the red haired exchange student he quickly made a call and with a few words -orders, really- to the principal to break out the fight lest the company will redraw the students.

"H-Hibari-san, p-please d-d-don't fight the e-e-exchange s-student." The principal stuttered, now that he was three feet away from the prefect his earlier fears came back full force. He might as well resign to save his life.

"Hn." was the only reply the principal got from the raven.

Kenta didn't know what to say, he stopped the fight but the seething glare the prefect made, might as well lead to a beating. He fidgeted in his place and heard a rustle of paper inside one of his pockets. The missive! Quickly pulling out the paper, the principal hastily unfolded the paper and handed it to the prefect.

"H-here Hibari-s-san, the d-director has s-sent this missive t-t-three days ago to i-inform us o-of t-the a-a-arriving e-exchange s-students." the stout man watched nervously as the teen read the missive.

Being out of town so to speak, the prefect was not able to get his paperwork done, he only gave the order to protect Namimori to Kusakabe and nothing else. Begrudgingly he accepted the request and returned the paper.

"I'll expect a report this afternoon, herbivore." Hibari ordered.

"Of course Hibari-san, I'll s-s-send it to y-your office as s-soon as p-possible.' With that the principal hurriedly went back to his office, thanking the gods all the way.

The prefect glanced at his opponent, who was standing perfectly still throughout the short conversation. He sheathed his tonfa, making it vanish into thin air. Getting the hint to stop the spar, Gaara threw the stolen tonfa which Hibari caught with ease. Silence permeated in the air as the two quiet teens waited for the closure of the fight, until Gaara decided to break it.

"Do you happen to know where the Administration Office is?" the red head asked, his mind was preoccupied with the fight that he nearly forgotten what he was here for.

The raven raised an eyebrow at the question.

"I need to finalize our enrollment, and get the required materials for the school tomorrow." Gaara added.

The prefect swiftly turned around and began to walk towards the school, Gaara grabbed his bag and followed the raven in silence. Along the way the red head reassessed the fighting style of the teen before him, there were a lot of holes in his stances but throughout the fight the raven corrected himself. Hibari Kyoya has a limitless potential to improve himself, he only needs a push in the right direction.

Gaara stopped a few feet away from the prefect when he saw the raven stood before a door. The red head glance upward and saw the a plaque saying 'Administration Office', he nodded at the prefect walked towards the door, slowing down when he was near the teen and entered the office.

Hibari Kyoya smirked when the red head closed the door, a steely glint in his eyes.

'Subaku Gaara. What an interesting person...' He idly thought as he walked towards the direction of his office.

* * *

Namimori Shopping District 1545

Kyoko Sasagawa walked idly around the shopping district still in her class uniform as school ended 15 minutes ago. She was enjoying her time as she saw the various displays in the shops, two more days to go until she and Haru will celebrate their appreciation day and she can't wait.

Speaking of Haru, Kyoko saw the brunette scanning the skirts in one of the clothes shop. Humming a small tune the blonde entered the shop and decided to surprise her friend.

"Haru-chan!" Suddenly shouted behind the brunette.

"Hahi!" the Midori student exclaimed and turned around, getting a full view of Kyoko hiding her giggle. "Eh, Kyoko-chan! What are you doing here?"

"I'm shopping too, silly." Kyoko replied. "Although I haven't bought anything yet."

"Oh." Haru blinked and looked around. "Where's Hana-chan? She was always with you when you two got a break from school."

"Hana went home early, she was complaining about muscle cramps." Kyoko replied as the brunette nodded in understanding.

"Well, did you see anything you like?" The blonde asked as she began to scan the skirts.

"No. Not yet." Haru replied with a shake of her head.

"Come on, I'll help you." Kyoko said, pulling out a knee high skirt with floral pattern at the edge.

The two continued to rummage around the shop, trying out their chosen skirts and sometimes a blouse when they saw it to their liking. Thirty minutes later they finished with their shopping. Kyoko buying a faded green skirt, while Haru bought a light blue jumper skirt and a white blouse with an imprint of peace in the center.

"Ne, Haru chan what's happening there?" Kyoko asked as she pointed out their frequented coffee shop across the street.

The cafe was brimming with teenage girls as well as young women who seem to have the mission to get a seat inside the shop. The teens passed the street when they saw one of the customers suddenly bumped into a passerby who fell from the collision. The two hurriedly ran towards the girl to help her from the accident.

"Here" Kyoko lend a hand while Haru picked up the shopping bags the girl carried earlier.

"Thanks." the girl mumbled as she pulled herself up.

"Are these yours?" Haru asked as she pointed at the bags she gathered.

Haru was surprised by the weight of each bag, nearly a kilo in weight and there are ten of them. The teen must have a very strong arms to carry all of them in one hand, and a lot of budget too.

"Ah, yes. Thank you." The teen bowed as she picked up the bags with ease. "What's with the commotion anyway?" the girl asked, a light accent in her words.

"I overheard that they hired a new waiter this morning." the brunette replied, looking at the girl with a curious expression. "And by the looks of it he's pretty popular."

The girl was about their height, wearing a faded skinny jeans, a striped long sleeve shirt under a red hooded vest lined with fur and wore a navy blue ankle high boots. Her features definitely belongs to a foreigner, long light blond hair, pale blue eyes, angular facial structure...but just to make sure...

"Are you a foreigner?" Haru asked suddenly, until she remembered her manners. "Oh, I nearly forgot. I'm Miura Haru and this is Sasagawa Kyoko." the brunette introduced.

"Yamanaka Ino, and yes, I'm a foreigner. I'm an exchange student from overseas. I'll be entering Namimori Middle tomorrow." Ino replied.

'Exchange student?' Kyoko thought. "Ne, Ino-san. Do you happen to know a a red headed male?" she asked.

"I do happen to know one, why?" Ino asked, getting a feeling that Gaara manage to get in trouble.

"Ano, he fought with the head prefect." Kyoko replied, she was unsure about the news running around the school this morning since she was worrying about Tsuna and co. The group made many absents during the week, getting into class in the morning and skipping the afternoon session, worrying the blonde student about their education.

"Oh." Ino can only reply, she wont ask for details since they will have a meeting this evening.

Kyoko blinked at the unconcerned reply, reminding herself that Ino doesn't know about the strict disciplinarian of the Namimori.

"Hahi! Is he still breathing?" Haru exclaimed, despite her bravado when she faced the prefect in the past, she was still amazed by his fighting abilities, good thing the raven don't hit girls.

Kyoko shook her head with a smile, "No, the principal broke the fight before they got serious."

"You shouldn't worry about Gaara, he can protect himself. I heard he was a martial artist in his school." Ino replied offhandedly. "Anyway, I should be going now, I still need to tidy up my apartment. I'll see you at school Kyoko-san, Haru-san."

"Wait Ino-san, are you free on Saturday? Kyoko and I have an appreciation day two days in a month." Haru asked.

"Appreciation day?" Ino asked, is this a new gig the female teens starting nowadays?

"Ah it's the day we can eat a cake to reward ourselves." the brunette replied with a grin.

Ino perked up at the mention of cake. Despite being a soldier of their nation she is, at foremost a girl, anything related to sweets is a must have. Sweets in their village are eaten sparingly by the female soldiers since they need to maintain a healthy diet, sure they can eat but mostly on special occasions. But the blonde was tempted by the offer, the last time she ate a cake was last week. Glancing at the devious little cake displayed in the cafe, Ino relented.

"I'll think about it. I might be free on that day" the blonde foreigner replied with smile and walked away from the two waving students.

* * *

Meanwhile... At the back of the coffee shop...

'Why oh why did I got a job of a waiter of all things?' Kaskashi thought despairingly as he leaned at the wall. He was wearing a light blue polo shirt, black slacks and white sneakers. A blue messenger bag slung across his shoulders.

He had forgone his face mask, showing his angular face and European features to the public. He has once thought to cover his right eye, but it might lower his chances in applying for a job, in the end he decided to just wear a contact lense to hide his eye.

"Good thing that my shift ends at 5..." he mumbled.

He was hunting for jobs earlier this morning, planning to apply as a technician or even an office worker. So how the heck did he end up being a waiter?

_Flashback..._

He was looking for a diner to eat a quick meal near the shopping district after an unsuccessful morning of job hunt when he saw a 'Help Wanted' plastered in front of a coffee shop, he was quick to dismiss the sign but was a second too late when a middle age woman walk near him.

"Looking for a job young man?" the woman asked looking up at the tall teen.

She was below average height with a light brown hair tied in a neat bun, age lines began to show on her young features. She was wearing a long dark blue skirt under a red apron, a white uniform bouse with a brown name tag on her right breast. Embedded on the name tag was a name 'Tanaka Yume' and under the name was the word 'Manager'.

Kakashi idly nodded and stopped when he saw the devilish grin from the woman.

'That was the wrong answer...' The silver haired teen thought.

"Oh good! I was worrying about getting an extra hand. Mari-chan resigned last week and I need a new worker to help our cafe. This week had been hard for us since Cana-chan was the only one who takes the afternoon shift..." Yume continued to babble as she pulled the confused tall teen inside her shop

"W-what's happening?' Kakashi thought as he suddenly found himself dragged at the back, bag placed inside a locker and red apron on his hand.

"A-ah Tanaka-san-" The silver haired teen began but was immediately cut off.

"You can call me Yume. Now as I was saying before, afternoon shifts starts at 1 in the afternoon and ends at 5. Oh I almost forgot, what's your name young man?"

"Hatake Kakashi, Ma'am." the teen replied, a resigned tone in his voice. Knowing a losing battle when he saw one.

The woman then wrote his name on a plastic name tag and handed it to the teen. "Here, your first three days will be as a trainee. Cana-chan will instruct you along the way. Speaking of Cana, wait here I'll go get her."

Kakashi sighed deeply as the woman left, he can win against two enemy teams all by himself, but he can never win when a woman is on that state of excitement. While waiting the silver haired teen tied the apron and clipped the name tag on his breast pocket. He sat on a chair and read his favorite little orange notebook.

"Here he is Cana-chan!"

Kakashi looked up and quickly hid his book as the two females entered.

Cana was a very petite young woman, with long curly brown hair tied in a high ponytail, auburn eyes and a cheery grin. She was wearing clothes similar to Yume.

"Now, since there are few customers out there, Cana will teach you the basics until the rush hour starts." Yume said with a grin.

"Come on Hatake-san." Cana said as she returned to the counter.

"Hai, hai." Kakashi said in a lazy tone, he might as well get started. "Ah, Yume-san. About the paperwork." He inquired. 'As well as the wages.'

"I'll send it to you after your shift ends, you can write your information in your house and submit it tomorrow with your resume." Yume replied. "If you have questions just ask."

'What an inconvenient way of getting a job.' the teen thought as he nodded.

_-End-_

After two hours of running through the basics, the rush hour began. At first it was only some middle age people getting their afternoon cup of coffee, then the students came. He was assigned into serving, just to get into motion and as the norm, he was polite to the costumers and always left the female teens in giggle. Thirty minutes later the word that the cafe hired a new -and handsome (it was the females' opinion)- waiter spread out through word of mouth and curious females began to gather outside. They only need a peek in order to get an eyeful of the tall and handsome silver haired teen, females of all ages form fourteen and above wants to have even a small interaction to with man. Some teens asked for water, tissue, an extra cup, or even asked for the direction of the comfort room when the sign can be clearly seen at the corner. The older, bolder, females took the chance when the man was serving to flirt with the young man, only to get a polite refusal.

Kakashi shivered when the amount of females doubled, nearly getting a riot from the costumers that was too slow to finish their meal. It was quickly abated by the Manager when things nearly got out of hand. Yume was smiling at full blast at the costumers in her cafe.

Giving out another sigh, Kakashi pulled out his book and began to read, lifting it high enough to cover his lower face. Second later the door opened revealing Yume holding a folder.

"Here Kakashi-san." the woman said as she handed the folder. "It contains the information about our cafe, it's rules, salary rates and the paperworks."

Taking the folder, Kaskashi took a polite bow to the woman. "Thank you for hiring me, Yume-san."

The brunette gave out a small giggle. "Ah no. I'm the one who needs to thank you, the costumers you attracted were so many, and they even gave tips!"

The silver haired teen sweat dropped and hid his grimace with a smile. "I'll be going now Yume-san." He has some unfinished work from hacking the Varia base and a meeting to organize this evening.

'And lunch' he thought as his stomach let out a grumble.

"Well then, I'll meet you tomorrow Kakashi-san." Yume waved as the teen went home.

* * *

**A/N: Finally! An update, sorry for the wait guys, internet signal in our area has gotten crazy and I only got two hours a day of making this chapter. So...What do you think? Characters are too out of their -well character?-, bland fight scenes?, low humor? If you have anything you want to correct or inform me please put it in your review.**

**And as a bonus round for the next chapter! The first three reviews in this chapter can get to have a special omake of their chosen character, -yay! your genre of course- and can even choose whose character's point of view for the intro of our next chap! - I need ideas guys!-**

**Until next update!**


	5. The Rain Has Fallen

**A/N: I don't own Naruto or KHR.**

**Sorry that the update was late, I had finals last week so I only got some ideas on the intro but I finished! Isn't that great!? Oh I have another note at the bottom please read it. Now, onto the story!**

* * *

**Exchange Students Residence:1815**

"Report."

"A Youthful contact has been made with the Vongola heir, Kakashi-san." Lee youthfully reported.

"Sawada, arrived at school at 0800 and was immediately attacked by Hibari Kyoya, along with the storm guardian Gokudera Hayato. After the fight, Gaara made a contact with the Cloud Guardian." Naruto followed up as he eyed his comrade. " At lunch break, the heir skipped school to train in the Forest of Death, with the Sun Arcobaleno and CEDEF protege, conversations are recorded by the seals I placed earlier this morning. At 1545, the Arcobaleno left while the two practiced sparring. They went home at 1800." the blond added as he handed a scroll and a folder.

"Gaara." Kakashi said.

"I went to the Namimori Middle at around 0800 as ordered and caught site of the Cloud Guardian attacking the Vongola Heir and Storm Guardian. I hid my presence until the fight ends and revealed my appearance after." Gaara began in a stoic voice, and hesitated for a moment.

The silent 'and?' was very clear in the face of each person present.

"The Cloud Guardian attacked for reasons unknown. I engaged in the combat for about ten minutes before the Principal arrived. Reassessing the abilities of the Guardian I fought, Hibari Kyoya has an above intermediate skill in combat. Future interactions with my 'charge', as you put it, will be made through sparring, as I have made an agreement with the prefect." the red head continued.

Their assigned leader nodded, aside form the first two -Lee and Naruto-, Gaara is also a battle addict soldier, although a bit mellowed out. In the past, red head has some tendency to overdo his fight, leading to numerous hospitalization for his opponents, that was until he met his proclaimed little brother, but that's a story for another time.

"After I finished finalizing the requirements, I returned to the school in undercover at 1100 and sensed the Cloud Guardian in his office, no interaction has been made with anyone until 1300 when the principal arrived handing out a copy of the director's missive and a folder." the red head added. "At 1500, he ordered his assistant to begin their patrol. 1600, the Sun Arcobaleno arrived together with the Cavallone and assistant and made contact with the Guardian. Their conversation includes the recent events of the Ring Battle and a deal to fight the Mist Guradian in the future, in exchange, Hibari will permit the continuation of the battles in his school. Contact has ended at 1700, the complete conversation has been recorded in the device I implanted in the prefect's shoes during our fight."

It happened during one of those close quarter combat, Gaara manage to subtly maneuver his sand to stick into the heel of the prefect's shoes along with the device, it was small and flat and it can change it's own color to blend to whatever it was stuck into. The device was an invention of the Hatake Clan who specialized in espionage, subterfuge, tracking and technology -hacking, programming, gadgets etc.-. Th device is a combination of nanotechnology and sealing, it can record any recognizable human voice with the radius of ten feet.

"1730, the prefect began his patrol and I used the opening to gather updates in the school and retrieved the device. The last position of the prefect was in the Namimori Middle, where he is watching the Cervello create the arena for the Rain Battle" Gaara ended his report, and handed a disk and a folder to their leader.

"Haku, Shikamaru."

"A contact has been made with the Sawada matriarch in the supermarket at 1620." Haku Began. "I was assigned for the shopping and cooking for the first week. Breakfast started at 0645 and ended at 0700, lunch was a packed sandwich of different variation and dinner will be beef curry, ceasar salad, steamed vegetables roasted chicken, fruit salad and miso. I patrolled the residential area during the afternoon, no notable events happened, aside form the ruckus in the Sawada residence." the raven ended his report, reminding himself that the chicken will finished within the next 10 minutes and listened when Shikamaru began his report.

"After breakfast, I went to the business district and confirmed the return of the Cavallone Boss. At 0900 he visited the Sawada Residence and left at 1200. He returned to his hotel and made no notable activity until 1600 where he went to the Namimori middle to meet the Cloud Guardian. I proceeded to spy in the Varia and noted the scientists interacting with the Varia boss, I manage to attach a device in one of the grunts in the vicinity and procured information regarding their Cloud Guardian, the conversation is vague and I assume it is related with rumors of the current disappearance of the Ninth head of the Vongola." Shikamaru reported. "I advice to be cautious of the Gola Mosca-...wait."

The raven stopped as he realized something.

"Kakashi-san, have you finished hacking into the Varia?" Shikamaru asked with an urgent tone in his voice.

"I was halfway through earlier this morning, and I'll be finished with it later in the evening." Kakashi replied getting a hint to what the raven is going into.

Shikamaru nodded. "There's a possibility that the Vongola Boss is abducted by the Varia and sealed within the Gola Mosca."

Kakashi's uncovered eye widened. "Is this connected to the life force I sensed last night?"

The Nara heir nodded. "It might be. The Mosca might have a device inside that can convert the flames of the person within. Since dying will flames can imitate the life force of a person, then the life force you sensed last night might be the Ninth head, while it was conveniently covered by the converted flames of the Mosca. Although it has a high possibility of it being true, it is still a possibility nonetheless."

"Very well, I'll take that into account. Tomorrow be alert to have an unplanned meeting." the silver haired teen ordered getting nods from the younger teens.

"Lastly, Ino."

"I secured my apartment in the morning and patrolled the shopping district at 0900, there was no notable activities happened. 1200 I went shopping for clothes." Ino paused briefly when she saw Naruto eye rolled. "Hey! I included your clothes too!" smacking the blonde teen lightly in the arm.

"I finished at 1645 and manage to make a contact with Miura Haru and Kyoko Sasagawa after I had an unfortunate 'accident' in front of a crowded coffee shop. We made a small conversation and in the end they asked me to join their appreciation day on Saturday, which still awaits my confirmation until tomorrow." Ino finished her report and handed a few receipts and a credit cards and was followed by Haku.

"Naruto and Shakamaru. You two are assigned to watch tonight's battle. Please proceed with caution, the Vongola intuition has an uncanny ability to sense our presence." He ordered, getting serious nods from the two teens.

Kakashi took the receipts and carts, the younger teens' and his allowance was funded by their village and budgeting that amount into monthly payments and weekly allowance was meticulous, he was glad that there was technique for cloning.

"Anything else?" the leader asked getting negative shake of heads. "Dismissed."

They ware about to walk out of the room when Naruto interrupted the comfortable silence.

"Kakashi-nii, what about you report?" Naruto asked stopping the teens from their way downstairs.

"Ah, I nearly forgot...I- well." Kakashi began scratching the back of his head. His left eye was covered again and his mask was back in place, he wore a plain black t-shirt and black cargo pants and his white sneakers. "I went job hunting/patrol this morning and got a job in a cafe." He ended lamely.

"Wait, you're the one who was being harassed by those females this afternoon?" Ino asked, a grin on her face.

"Please, don't remind me." Kakashi deadpanned, getting a laugh from his little brother. "Hey, it's not funny, besides you got an easy assignments while I still need to apply for college this semester" the silver haired teen argued.

'Thankfully that was a month away, and I still need to summarize the reports for the weekly update to the Hokage.' He thought as he walked idly into the kitchen, careful not to be seen from the windows.

Ino doesn't need to have a reason to visit the boys since they are arrived as a group, she can visit the boys anytime she wants. Kakashi on the other hand was 'separated' from them, and in order to not cause suspicion from the watching eyes he placed a clone in his apartment and will switch with him after dinner. They will make a contact with each other when they have gained enough trust in the Vongola.

"Haha, Kaka-nii got a job as a waiter!" Naruto laughed. "Ne, What's your shift nii-san? I'll visit you."

"I'm not telling" Kakashi replied blandly as they sat down in the kitchen and began piling the food on his plate. "Besides you'll be bad with business since you'll eat all the food."

Naruto pouted, and saw Shikamaru standing up already finished with his dinner.

"Hurry up, Naruto. Theres 10 minutes until the Rain Battle starts." the lazy teen said, getting an eyeful of Naruto stuffing his face with food as a reply.

"Troublesome."

* * *

**Namimori Middle: 1900**

"The Cervello sure worked fast." Naruto mumbled as they bypassed the Varia grunts in the gates as well as the Cervello who are powering a device with mist flames.

"Are the seals still working?" Shikamaru asked as they hid in the bushes. Despite their skills they were not proficient enough to completely erase their presence, Naruto however had an idea to place suppression seals in their body, as far as his mastery in sealing goes, they are 100% undetectable and the only way they can sense each other is by seeing one another.

The blond closed his eyes briefly and nodded at the raven, they wore an all black outfit with an added face mask, to hide their appearance. Naruto didn't take any chances and added a bonnet to hide his hair.

"Now, I'll observe the battle behind the crowd while you take a higher vantage view, you can use clones to gather more info. The grunts doesn't need any attention more than keeping an eye on them, the Varia Guardians however might give out some info regarding the situation in Italy." Shikamaru planned getting a nod from the blond. "Also keep a close eye on the Mosca."

With the planning finally done the two wordlessly began creating hand seals and stopped at the last one, and in a blink of an eye the two slowly began to be transparent until they became invisible, not even a shadow was left.

Tsuna wandered around the gates of the school, along with Basil, Yamamoto and Reborn. To be frank he was nervous for his tall friend, he's fighting the long haired man and by the looks of it he's strong!

"VVOOOOIIIIIII!" A shout echoed in the night and Tsuna cringed at the volume. He looked at the source and found the long silver haired man standing at the top of the entrance gate.

"So you didn't run away, Katana Brat! I'm gonna get that ring of yours!" Superbi Squalo shouted as he brandished his sword.

"I won't let you do that, Squalo." Yamamoto began as he swung his bamboo sword immediately transforming it into a katana. "Cause I'm going to beat you using this."

"Shape changing sword huh?" the long haired man muttered raising an eyebrow.

Tsuna blinked as he realized something. "Eh? But that means you're using the Shigure Souen style..."

"Dad said that the style is invincible, then why would I doubt the words of my old man?" Yamamoto replied with a grin.

"Invincible!?" Squalo interrupted. "Only fools calls themselves invincible! I've already buried countless of them!"

Tsuna panicked at the notion. "M-maybe w-we could s-skip this battle." he muttered softly but his friend heard it.

"Do you doubt me Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked with a frown.

"N-n-no it's not that..." Tsuna paused briefly. "It's j-just that you m-might end u-up in a worse s-situation. Gokudera-kun and Ryohei had already injured themselves in their battle a-and..." the brunet railed off.

"Ahaha, you worry too much Tsuna." Yamamoto cheered hugging the brunet with an arm. "Have some faith in your friend, and trust the word of my dad."

"Ah, I got so worked up over the news of Squalo and nearly forgot..." Tsuna mumbled.

"What, Tsuna-dono?" Basil asked.

"Yamamoto, if it's him he'll always be able to find a way." Tsuna replied.

Out of nowhere two Cervello appeared landing behind the Varia Rain guardian, getting all the attention from the crowd.

"The Rain battle will be held in the school building B." the girl on the right began.

"Please proceed to the building immediately." the girl on the left continued and with that the two jumped back, followed by Squalo.

"It's the school building again..." Tsuna murmured as their group walked idly towards the arena.

The brunet was taken out of his thought when a loud voice shouted.

"Sorry! I'm late!' Ryohei greeted dragging a mumified person behing him. "I had this guy tagging along." he added pointing to the mummy.

"Aaah! A pharaoh!" Tsuna screeched as he pointed at the mummy.

"No! It's me Juudaime!" the muffled voice of Gokudera called out at the mummy began to move around. After seconds of struggling the bandaged teen finally broke out and pulled the cloth away from his face. "Ossan told me that this was a man's way of being treated!" He added with a glare as he unfurled the wraps in his body, he was referring to Romario who saw him after the beating he got from the prefect.

"Gokudera-kun! Are you alright?" Tsuna asked as he saw the burnt mark in the teens arms as well as some covered injuries in his face and the added bruises from the prefect.

"Never been better!" the silver haired ten replied with a thumbs up.

The group neared the school building B and not ten feet away from the building the Vongola crowed gaped at the drastic renovation of the building. The once pristine white paint was now chipped and all openings were air locked, every window was covered with thick glass and the door was reinforced.

"I wonder what's inside?" Gokudera offhandedly noted.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Yamamoto replied and opened the steel door.

What greeted the group was a literal water downed building, the floors were filled with rubble and water poured from the holes on the upper floors on every corner. It was a complete picture of a flooded run down building and none would have think that this place is a functional school building three hours ago.

"This is the arena of the Rain Battle: Aquarion" A Cervello member announced as she and her partner appear on the second floor.

This got the attention of the Vongola group.

"It's special feature includes of three dimensional structure that will be filled by the water cascading from an opening on the rooftop." No. 2 Cervello continued.

"When the water reached a certain amount of height, we will release a ferocious sea beast." No. 1 Cervello added.

"Just like a sinking ship..." Ryohei muttered with a frown.

"The footing will be harder too, as the time goes by." Basil added, with a worried look.

"Eehh!? Sea beast?" Tsuna loudly exclaimed. 'What the heck?' he added in thought.

"Isn't that interesting?" the lowered voice of Squalo called, getting the attention of the other party.

"Varia!"

"Ushishishi..." the airy laugh of Belphegor echoed after. "The prince woke up this morning with a ring in his hand" he taunted.

"That bastard..." Gokudera cursed. "I didn't know that you swing that way, Reaper! Who's the lucky guy you answered to!?" gaining a tick mark from the blonde and some snickers from his friends.

"G-gokudera-d-dono!" Basil exclaimed with a light laughter in his voice. But the silver haired teen misinterpreted the action.

"Ah, no offense Basil..." the green eyed teen added.

The younger teen can only sputter in surprise and embarrassment, getting a pat from Dino who was containing his laughter.

"Why you insolent brat!" the insulted blond shouted brandishing his knives and was prepared to throw it when the voice of his boss stopped him.

"Shut up trash." Xanxus ordered which was immediately complied by the blond.

"Xanxus!" Tsuna quietly exclaimed, glaring at the scarred teen standing on the second floor.

"Pathetic dogs should just be killed." he muttered loudly enough for the Vongola crowd to hear. "You worms will get rid of those trash." the red eyed teen added while looking at his Rain Guardian.

"What did you say?" Squalo asked and turned around, only to find his boss walking out of the building with his comrade. "VOI!"

"Xanxus was serious." Reborn said suddenly, adding the tension in the group.

"Don't scare them this early in the battle Reborn." Dino greeted as he entered the arena. "Yamamoto, you don't mind me watching your fight, do you?"

"Nope." the tall raven replied.

"Ah, also Hibari might watch your fight." the blond boss added offhandedly.

"Hibari?" Yamamoto asked with a blink.

"Yeah, he just recently learned about the Ring battle this afternoon. So he might be interested..." Dino added with a grimace at the memory.

"We have two wins and one loss, nevertheless we need to win this battle." Reborn announced as they gathered at the outside of the building.

"All right! Let's huddle!" Ryohei cheered. "We extremely need Hibari to join!" he added but was only met with silence.

"That's impossible..." Gokudera deadpanned.

"Ahaha, yeah." Yamamoto added.

"We'd definitely be bitten to death..." Tsuna muttered nervously.

Basil silently nodded.

"I won't extremely allow exceptions!" Ryohei argued.

"Maa, maa." Tsuna amended. "How about a proxy?" the brunet suggested looking at Basil.

"Eh? Me?" Basil asked pointing a finger to himself. "Is it alright?"

"I'm with it if Juudaime says so." Gokudera answered.

"We're a team, remember?" Yamamoto said. "I even got Lambo to share his presence with us." he added pulling out a spare tail of the toddler's cow costume.

"Alright! Your extreme positions everyone!" Ryohei shouted.

The teens immediately huddled and crouched low. "Yamamoto FIGHT!"

"They sure got the fighting spirit." Dino commented at the huddle, while Reborn grinned.

"Candidates of the Rain Battle on each party. Please proceed at the center of the building." the voice of the Cervello announced.

"The audience area will be at the north and south ends of the building, the battle will projected through a giant screen set in a wall. Non-candidates of this battle please proceed to the designated area." her partner added.

"Extremely win this battle Yamamoto!" Ryohei cheered.

"Don't even think about losing, baseball idiot." Gokudera said seriously.

"Do your best Yamamoto." Tsuna parted his words. "Just please survive after this..." he added.

"Don't worry Tsuna." the tall raven grinned. "See you later."

Tsuna looked at the retreating back of the baseball player walking deep into the center of the arena. The brunet gave out a worried sigh and went to the audience area and looked up at the screen on the wall.

"There will be no time limit." the Cervello said, voice loudly projected through speaker. "Now, for the battle for the Ring of Rain: Superbi Squalo versus Yamamoto Takeshi. Start!"

'It started finally...' a Naruto clone thought as he watched the first bout of the battle. He was hiding at the top floor of the water logged building, sticking into the ceiling and away from any cascading water.

He eyed the dodging teen and noted the fighting styles of the candidate.

'Good form...' he commented silently as he watched the long haired swordsman swung viciously. '...and weapon too.' he added as he saw the hidden projectile weapon in the sword.

The raven manage to dodge at the last second and muttered an idle commentary. The clone didn't get to hear what it is about since the water was too loud.

"Image training?" the loud voice of Squalo however cannot be challenged by the falling liquid. "That trash."

Naruto clone changed his position to get a better view of the fight, silently lowering himself into the second floor, he stuck himself into the wall and continued his observation

"Was this..." the long haired man started running in a very fast pace. "In the images?!" he asked and suddenly disappeared from view.

The clone eyed the shocked teen, while noting the fast jumping swordman landing quietly the back of his opponent. The Varia candidate swung his sword and was immediately blocked by Yamamoto who saw the strike at the last second.

"Die!" Squalo exclaimed as another projectile weapon burst out of his sword.

A large explosion erupted at the floor covering the entire room in water vapor.

The Naruto clone eyed the unusual shape of the smoke that followed after. 'So the teen had drawn his sword...Shigure huh?' he added as he saw the form the Vongola contender took.

'So there was a generation in this place after all.' the clone thought. The Shigure Souen style originated from the Uzumaki Clan, it was created for an exhibition fight and performed at plays for entertaining purposes in the old times. Teachers of this style had a tradition to add a new move when their students learned the art, and it was passed down throughout the nation, gaining different moves through time. However because of it's simplicity the civilians had manage to learn it and modified the style into fighting.

The style has somehow leaked out in the public world when the Nations decided to 'disappear'. This was the first time Naruto encountered the new generation of the Shigure Souen.

"VOI! Don't freeze up in battle!" Squalo shouted as she charged at the teen, he slashed his sword low creating an arc of water, he also shot out some projectile weapons, hiding the bullet in the water.

The projectile exploded cornering the frozen baseball player in between the explosions. Squalo immediately closed in.

'What the heck is that idiot still standing there?' the clone frowned as he saw the near in panic teen .

"Ahh... At time like this...this should do" the tall raven muttered, getting a raised eyebrow from the hidden spectator.

The teen dipped his sword in the water and swung in an upward diagonal slash creating his own arc of water, he repeated the move at the opposite side. The move created a defensive shield of water arcs around the teen.

Despite that the position of his opponent was hidden, Squalo slashed horizontally destroying the barrier of water. He glared as the teen successfully defended himself, but smirked at the information he gathered. The long haired man distance himself.

"VOOI! Why didn't you follow up after defending!?" the Varia member shouted.

'Indeed.' the clone agreed, Squalo was open when he finished attacking and Yamamoto didn't take the opportunity.

"You're an idiot! You lost your last chance to attack me!" the man taunted pointing his sword at the raven.

"Ahaha, you talk big don't you?" Yamamoto laughed. "Let me clear something about the shigure Souen Style." he added with steely edge on his tone. He performed a stance and began charging forward.

'Ohoho... He finally attacked.' the clone thought in anticipation as he watched the teen run towards his opponent. When the teen reached a certain distance he swung his sword in his left, however at the last second he switched hands letting go of his sword in the middle of his swing and caught it with his right. This move made his attack shift in both timing and trajectory and can caught the opponent unawares.

'Ah, what a close one...' the Naruto clone thought as he saw the long haired guardian shifted backwards far enough from the edge of the sword but close enough to not show any difference from being slashed.

Yamamoto watched as his opponent fell in the water, however not a second later his opponent immediately stood up, wound free and a shit eating grin on his lips.

"H-how-" the teen asked but was immediately cut off by the man.

"VOII! That 'invincible style' of yours, is that there all it is to it?" Squalo asked. "Other than that why did you used the blunt end of your sword?"

"Well that... I did it to win against you, not to kill you." Yamamoto answered and performed a defensive stance.

'Naive...this is a fight not a spar' the clone commented with a frown. 'That kind of thinking might end in a bad situation for you in the future.'

"VOOII! You underestimate me too much!" the man shouted charging at the teen.

Without a word Yamamoto repeated his first defensive move and created two arcs of water, what he didn't know is that Squalo created his own. Now that the two swordsmen has their vision blocked it's only a matter of time before one gets into the other's position.

The teen was too focused looking for his opponent that he left his left side open, Squalo took the opportunity and slashed getting the first blood in the fight.

"How's that?" Squalo asked, as the teen fell down clutching his wounded shoulder. "I saw through your techniques because I defeated that style or yours years ago."

**Meanwhile...at the Audience area...**

"Shigure Souen Style...was...defeated?" Tsuna asked dumbstruck at the given info.

"To defeat a man who has the title of Sword emperor, I searched for strong opponents." Squalo's voice echoed from the speaker. "At one time I heard of a vanishing style in the East, a style that was said to be completely flawless, that was the Shigure Souen Style."

"I had found the two successors of the style, they used the same eight forms as you do!" the man shouted. "But it was just an imitation of an ancient sword technique, and come to think of it that style is more of an exhibition fight than a technique for murder! I experienced every one of it's form and it didn't do them any good! So I killed them!"

"H-how c-c-can he d-do that k-kind of thing!?" Tsuna shouted in terror. 'Is this how dark the Mafia would be?' he thought.

"I'm afraid it's true." Reborn answered. "Remember Tsuna, Varia was called an assassination squad for a reason."

Tsuna nervously gulped at the reminder.

"Squalo has an adept ability to see through techniques...and it might end badly for Yamamoto." Dino added in a grim tone.

"T-then w-what will h-h-happen n-now?" Tsuna asked, his heart beating fast at the of thought of Yamamoto his friend-...the brunet shook his head, he didn't want to continue that line of thought.

"I never heard..hah...of such...a thing." Yamamoto replied, panting in effort as he exerted himself to stand up. He clamped a hand in his wound grimacing at the pain shooting out. "The Shigure Souen Style I heard is Completely flawless and invincible."

"VOOI! You're still talking about crap like that?!" Squalo shouted.

"You don't know until you try..." Yamamoto replied giving out a smile.

"Yamamoto..." Tsuna murmured as he saw the determined look of his friend. His thoughts were however cut off as the tingling sensation at the back of his mind became stronger, he had this feeling of being watched as he entered the school but he dismissed it, worried about the battle . Now it was too annoying to ignore.

The brunet looked around trying to find if he can pinpoint the location of the person watching but he found nothing, his eyes landed at the highest tree at the corner of the building but he didn't found anything unusual, his intuition gave warning signals but he didn't see anything strange. Unconsciously his eyes then landed on the shadows beneath their feet and lightly stomped his foot, nothing happened. He continued to tap his foot gaining raised eyebrow from his group.

"Tsuna-dono, what are you doing?" Basil asked knocking the brunet from his actions.

"Ah, Ano...I have this eerie feeling of being watched." Tsuna said, an unsure tone in his voice.

"That's impossible Juudaime! The Cervello locked the school from the public not even a single mouse could enter!" Gukudera supplied his knowledge.

Reborn and Dino silently agreed, the Battle was only allowed to be seen by the two fighting parties, their allies and a neutral one who will be in charge of the battle. However, both of them knew that the Vongola Intuition is acting up again, and if Tsuna says they are being watched then there is no doubt that there's an intruder in the vicinity. Reborn looked at Dino sharply and the tall blonde nodded, he silently signal Romario to conduct a search and the older man nodded and pushed a button in his earpiece and began ordering their men.

Tsuna saw their interaction and pulled out a relieved sigh but he kept glancing back at the tree and the shadow. His attention was immediately directed at Ryohei who suddenly shouted in alarm.

"Yamamoto!" the boxer shouted.

Tsuna snapped his head at the projector screen and saw the tall raven receiving an injury to his right eye. The brunet let out an alarmed shout as Yamamoto fell into the water.

Squalo immediately closed in to his fallen opponent but sidestepped when the teen snapped back into an attack, pulling out his previous attack of switching hands. The long haired man saw the attack and swung his sword at the incoming swing.

A cloud clang erupted through the speaker and Vongola audience was confused when their friend did not move after the last strike.

"What's the baseball idiot doing?!" Gokudera exclaimed as he saw Squalo preparing for an attack.

The silver haired teen raised an eyebrow when the raven punched his arm holding the sword. But was too late to evade the attack. The Rain Guardian flew back a few feet from the blow, sustaining another wound in his body.

"What Extremely happened?!" Ryohei shouted.

His question was left unanswered as he saw the Varia attacked relentlessly, grinning madly as he saw the teen only using one hand to handle his blade turned bamboo. Yamamoto glanced at his surrounding and saw a platform towards the second floor. He immediately jumped up avoiding the charging Squalo.

"VOOIII! Where are you going?!" the man shouted as he followed the teen.

* * *

**In a certain tree near the Vongola Audience Area...**

Shikamaru sighed in relief as he saw that the attention of the Vongola group were back at the screen. He was hiding at the top of the tree sticking sideways from the trunk and has a view at the projector screen. The Vongola Intuition is a very frightening ability, Kaskashi was right on that mark.

He sent a clone made of shadow to blend into the shadows of the the crowd beforehand, and was glad that it still in there. The stomp from the Vongola heir was a close one, a little to the left and the clone would have disappeared.

He pushed a button on his earpiece and contacted his partner.

"Naruto." He called quietly.

"Yes?" Naruto answered in English.

"Cavallone conducted a search party, the Vongola heir sensed me 5 minutes ago." Shikamaru informed.

"Roger."

"Any updates?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh, I sent a clone inside the arena and four around the campus. I'm in Varia audience area and still no word about the Ninth head." Naruto supplied.

"And the Mosca?" Shikamaru asked.

"Definitely a machine." Naruto answered. "I did sensed a life force inside it, but it's slowly weakening. I wished Hinata was sent here with us, her eyes will be really useful at this time."

"Yeah, too bad her flames are of average strength. Just be careful now we don't want any early discovery at this moment." Shikamaru ordered.

"Are you kidding me? These so called assassins are a joke, they gave out free information on their swordsman's attacks, especially the chibi." Naruto replied.

Shikamaru sighed, clearly sensing a grin on the blond's face. "Troublesome. I'll contact you if there's an update on my side. I'm out" He ended their conversation.

**Back in the battlefield...**

"That's gotta hurt." The clone muttered as he saw the teen receive another wound from his opponent when the raven was unable to evade the stabbing attacks. The raven was weakened too much and was unable to jump on a sturdy foothold

The clone changed his position and was now sticking at ceiling of the second floor, and looking up (down?) at the fight.

"Hah, What now katana brat?! Your style is of no use anymore! Be prepared because I'm gonna tear your heart apart!" Squalo asked looking down at the falling teen.

Yamamoto landed at the platform he jumped from earlier, wounds gushing out blood and right eye closed. "Dammit, If Dad knew that I lost he'll be mad." he muttered.

"VOOI! You still wanna go with that invincible style of yours? How about it? Since your the successor of that style, how about you show me the 8th move Autumn Rain and be done with it! Cause in the end You're gonna die!" the long haired man announced.

'Idiot.' The Naruto clone thought. 'Don't rely on your knowledge of the past, the Shigure Souen Style always evolves in every generation, although I think you don't know about that tidbit of information...'

'Autumn Rain?...What the heck is he talking about? I never heard abou-' Yamamoto thought as he realized something. "So that's what you meant, Dad" he murmured quietly and he slowly stood up gaining strength each second.

"VOOII! You finally stood up! Are you still going with your style!?" Squalo shouted a blood thirsty look in his eyes.

"Of course, because the Shigure Souen Style is completely flawless." Yamamoto announced and began running at full speed, dodging the exploding projectiles sent by Squalo. He jumped from platform to platform until he reached a higher rubble and jumped high, landing on the second floor behind the long haired man. He perform the last offensive form and began rushing towards the Varia swordsman.

"VOI! I know that stance!" Squalo grinned as he saw attack, he prepared his counter and began rushing at the teen. He kept a close eye and at the upper swing that will follow from the sword draw stance. However his eyes widened as he saw the quick horizontal draw it was very different from the eighth from he know too well.

"Shit!..." He evaded from the swing but was too slow. "Tch!" He exclaimed as he jumped back, clutching the shallow wound he received from the last attack.

"YOU! Did you use another style other than Shigure Souen?!" Squalo screeched in anger, he needs to be careful of the brat there still some hidden techniques in his sleeves.

"No, that was also the Shigure Souen Style." Yamamoto replied panting at the effort from the last attack, he might have lost too much blood. "That was the eighth form Pouring Rain and was created by my old man."

'Hmm, Squalo still gets the upper hand, the kid has lost too much blood from the last attack. However, the kid might end this faster if he had created the ninth form.' the clone thought, getting the full view of the last bout.

"VOOII! Brat I didn't think you'd get this far." He muttered glaring at the teen. "So do you have anymore surprise tactics in your sleeve?"

"Ahaha, that's pretty much all. All the first seventh forms are the same except from the eighth one." Yamamoto replied offhandedly.

'Idiot...Is this kid too honest or just plain stupid?!" Naruto thought with a sweat dropped.

"HAHAHA!" Squalo guffawed. "You're too honest! Then you won't win this battle, I already saw through your Pouring Rain!"

"Then I guess there's one more left to show you..." the raven said, forming a stance similar to the baseball player who is about to hit a ball. "The Ninth form of the Shigure Souen Style."

"What the hell are you doing? Are you planning do play baseball here?" Squalo asked mockingly.

"Unfortunately I'm not much good at anything aside from playing baseball." Yamamoto replied.

"Then let's see your final move!" Squalo shouted as he let loose a barrage of swings parting the waves at he ran at full speed towards the teen.

The Varia swordsman closed in parting the waves like a shark swimming at full speed, he swung his sword and the teen deflected the strike and jumped out Squalo's kill zone. "VVOOII! Were not done yet!" the man shouted quickly changing the direction of his attack.

Yamamoto suddenly disappeared from his sight but Squalo was not deterred. He continued running at full speed until he saw the teen jumping from his peripheral view. 'Gotcha!' He thought and grinned with a swing of his sword he let out another barrage of projectiles at the airborne teen. He looked confusedly as the teen did not react to the incoming projectiles, Squalo immediately jumped back when he realized that he was attacking a reflection.

It was a near miss when a sword suddenly fell down where his head has been a second ago.

'Hoo, that's another close one for the Varia.' the clone thought. 'Kudos to Yamamoto though, what an awesome move he created.'

"Hah, Let's end this!" Squalo shouted as he began his counter attack when the raven landed, catching the teen offguard.

"Gah!" Yamamoto exclaimed as he received another injury, he scrambled to get away but he lost his balance, the lost of blood is now taking effect on his body.

Squalo took the opportunity and kicked the teen on his recent injury, eliciting a pained shout from the raven.

Back at the Vongola Audience area...

"Yamamoto!" the crowd of teens shouted as they saw their friend landed a few feet away from Squalo, clutching the new wound he received.

"Reborn! Do something!" Tsuna shouted in panic as he saw the long haired man walking towards his friend. "Yamamoto is already defeated!"

"I can't, not until Squalo gets the half ring from Yamamoto." Reborn replied in a squeaky voice, he was already holding his gun the moment he saw Squalo evaded the last attack from the teen. He glanced at Dino as he saw his first student barking orders through a phone, his men were already positioned at the door with explosive in hand.

The moment Squalo connects the half ring the Cavallone men will immediately go inside and give first aid to the defeated guardian, that is if Squalo will leave him alive.

"Well, will you look at that..." Squalo murmured, voice echoed in the speaker. "Shigure Souen Style was defeated after all..."

"That bastard..." Gokudera cursed, gripping his dynamites.

The group can only watch hopelessly as their friend was hauled up by the Varia swordsman. Yamamoto weakly tried to pry the squeezing hand in his neck but he was too weak, his sword was out of his reach and he had no strength left.

Squalo pulled the ring out of the necklace. "This ring belongs to me now katana brat." he grinned as he heard a beep echoing around the arena, a signal that the sea beast has been released. "How about a nice swim with my namesake brat?" He asked and didn't wait to hear a reply when he threw the teen into the waters below.

"Yamamoto!" Tsuna shouted, the Cervello informed them a second before that the sea beast has been released. "Dino-san! Please save Yamamoto!" the brunet pleaded.

"We'll do our best Tsuna." Dino replied as he ran towards his men, Reborn in tow.

Back in the arena...

"Stupid Varia..." the Naruto clone muttered as he jumped on the water in a different hole. He needed to contain the shark first and save the teen from drowning and he needed to be fast. He threw a pronged kunai at the nearest beam and not a second later another splash sounded in the water.

"I'll take care of the shark you go save the tall guy!" the voice ordered in their ear piece, both the clone and the original is still in their camouflage technique and can only communicate via electronics since they can't see nor sense each other.

"Roger." the clone replied and dived into the water.

Naruto took the pronged kunai and held it between his teeth, he needs to be careful of the cameras since they are still functioning, he needed to wait for Shikamaru's signal when the video feed is cut off. His musing were cut off when he saw the tell tale fin of the shark zipping meters on his left. The hidden blonde took off under water trying to close in.

"They cut off the video feed." Shikamaru's voice echoed in the submerged earpiece. Naruto needed to send a thank you gift to his nii-san, Hatake Tech. was awesome! "Vongola party will bomb the door...ETA ten minutes." his partner added.

Naruto can't reply since he's underwater but he did cancel the camouflage technique, this gained the attention of the shark and the beast was now closing on him, he broke into the surface and contacted his clone.

"Copy1! Are you on safe ground?" He asked and waited for a reply. He eyed at the incoming beast and had a epiphany of hearing the classical theme song for the shark attacks.

"I repeat! Copy1! Are you on safe ground?!" He asked, not a second later his own voice replied.

"We're on a platform, I secured the package and stabilized his health. He's on safe zone now." his clone informed.

"Roger that, be on guard, Vongola party will enter in seven minutes." the original replied jumping on top of the water and stood up perfectly still. He stashed his pronged kunai and took out a scroll out of one his tattoo seal in his hand. It was a storage scroll and Naruto was hungry for some shark fin.

The beast was 5 meters away before it jumped out of the water, jaws filled with serrated teeth opened wide intending to rip the torso of his meal.

Naruto only grinned as he jumped at the side and delivered an enhanced kick into the flank of the beast. The shark didn't know what happened, a second ago he was centimeters away from his meal and the next he was flopping like a fish on the second floor away from the deep water below.

"Now be a good boy stay still." Naruto said as he neared the flopping shark, he opened the scroll, a sign and puff of smoke later, the shark disappeared sealed inside the scroll.

Naruto let out a whistle as he went back in the first floor, he jumped down and smoothly landed on the water and walked idly around.

"Over here boss!" his own voice called and Naruto followed the direction of the voice and found the two on top of a large platform.

"Good job." the original commented as he saw the relaxed face of the unconscious guardian, wounds now semi healed. "Dismissed."

The clone handed the lent gadgets and made a salute, with a puff of light smoke the clone disappeared.

Naruto stayed silent as he processed the information of the clone and looked at the sleeping teen before him in interest, "Shigure user huh? Man you really need some pointers in that style, you're behind by 76 forms you know?" he asked jokingly.

The blond suddenly felt a small tremor in the building and saw the water flushing out of the door. "Well my job here is done." with that Naruto made a single handed sign and disappeared a swirl of water.

* * *

**Kakashi's Apartment: 2016**

Kakashi was typing at a very fast pace, fingers flying across the keyboard in unnatural speed, storm gray eye locked into the laptop screen. He holed himself in his bedroom, lights out and seals in place after they finished dinner. The dim light of the gadget was the only source of light in the room. He was nearly complete with his hacking, the defense installed by the Varia in their system was very unique, having different pass codes and backups and since Kakashi didn't want any of the squad to know that they've been hacked so he took the time to bypass each defense without triggering an alarm.

"Done." The silver haired teen muttered as he pushed the last key in the lap top. Without any warning the laptop blacked out, and was back online a fraction of a second later.

The screen blinked for a few seconds until it was barraged by a torrent of pop-ups containing information of the current plans in the Varia. Kakashi eyes scanned the information glancing on each window that appeared until he saw a blueprint of a robot, it's silhouette similar to that of Mosca.

"Wait a sec..." Sliding his fingers in the mouse pad, the silver haired teen enlarged the window containing the info and read the information contained within.

"This is..." He was alarmed at what he read but he remained calm, he clicked another button and he was directed to another window, this one contains information that was top secret. "...bad, very bad..."

'Then Shikamaru's hunch was correct...' Kakashi thought. "I wonder how will it play out for us..."

He bit his thumb and made hand signs at very rapid pace, he ended the process by slamming his palms on the floor. A puff of smoke erupted and a pug appeared.

"Oh." The dog suddenly talked looking at his appearance. "What's with the change of attire?" It asked. His usual jacket and headband was nowhere to be seen and instead wore a necklace with a dog tag, engraved in it was the symbol of Konoha and his name under it, at the opposite side was the name was Kakashi's current address and his name.

"We're undercover, Pakkun." Kakashi replied as if a talking dog was a norm to him. He went to his desk and grabbed a pen and two scrolls, he began writing down a coded message, one for the boys and one for Ino.

"So that means..." The dog thought as he held the dog tag.

"No talking, and only barks." Kakashi smiled as he saw the glare from his dog.

"I hate you..." The pug can only reply.

"Now, now. This is a part of the mission, so no complaints." Kakashi lightly reprimanded. "Anyway I need you to send this to Naruto and Ino." Holding out the scrolls.

"Why not use clones?" The pug asked as took the scroll with his mouth.

"Paperwork."

The pug let out at eye roll towards his owner and disappeared in the night.

* * *

**A/N: I bet you didn't see that coming eh? In my opinion no high school student that has no experience in sword fight can defeat a man who won the title of Sword Emperor. I am planning to make a rematch for those two in the near future so please stay tuned. And don't worry about the winnings, I let Lambo win his fight so it's 2 for Varia and 2 for Vongola team. Anyway... Complaints, comments, and ideas please feel free to put it in your review.**

**Till next update! Bye bye**


	6. Enters the Transferees

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or KHR.**

**A/N: Yess! An update! Haha, anyway I don't really have any thing to inform you guys -I'm just stalling you from reading this chapter. Whoa, wait no throwing please! Just go read ahead.**

* * *

**Sawada Household: 0300**

All the occupants of the household are all sleeping, enjoying their dreams, all but one person...

Sawada Tsunayoshi, stared at his ceiling arms resting behind his head and body all cozed up in blankets, despite the comfortable chill of his pillow the brunet still kept awake. His mind was a chaos and he was trying to remember each events that happened recently, from the moment he stepped inside the Namimori Middle until he entered his room. He didn't remember anything significant nor strange in the past 9 hours.

"Gah!" Tsuna quietly exclaimed in frustration, he stopped as soon as he started and glances at the sleeping toddler in his room. The brunet gave out a sigh of relief as he saw Reborn still asleep, bubble blowing out of his nose and onyx eyes opened wide.

He sat up straight and stared at the night sky over the tree in his backyard - wait, tree! That's it!

He remembered the feeling of being watched during the fight, there was someone in that tree, someone just in plain sight but still invisible to the eyes... Is it the same tech that Verde used? No, that can't be it, Reborn didn't see anyone since he was a toddler. And also the shadow, there was something hiding in there, he just know it, it just doesn't make any sense! How can someone be hiding in a shadow? That was just too weird, even for Mafia standards.

Tsuna slapped his head in frustration and lied down again, the Battle for the Ring of Rain ended in Yamamoto's defeat and the information was half sunk in his mind. The first half is the hopelessly faithful part, is telling him that it was Yamamoto the happy-go-lucky teen that can lift the spirit of everyone in the room. While the latter part, his rational mind is telling him that no teenage boy can defeat a man whose experienced in the first place, even if they have the beginner's luck. That was a fight, not a spar nor a skirmish. Tsuna was just glad that Yamamoto was safe when they found him.

Speaking of, when they retrieved their Rain Guardian there was something off, something unusual...

_Flashback._

BOOM!

Explosions took off after one another as the members of the Cavallone Famiglia take cover. It took 5 minutes for the preparation of the bombs, double checking the right place to put the explosives in order to not completely demolish the building -and nobody wants to see a demolished building the next day, nor rebuild the whole thing over night- and another 5 minutes to let the water flush out. They need to be quick, the wounds Yamamoto received might be critical and not to mention the shark.

Immediately the water surged out, the Cavallone men and the Vongola group watched on stand by as the water quickly drained and as soon the the water subsided they immediately rushed in. Medics and Cervello members went in first quickly followed by the Vongola group.

They took time to find the unconscious raven and was relieved to see that he has fallen on a high platform. The medics from the Cavallone climbed up and hastily assessed the raven's health.

"He's fine!" one of the medics shouted, getting relieved and confused expressions.

Reborn jumped out of Dino's shoulder and landed beside the medic, seeing the damage himself.

'Hmm... That can't be possible, the wounds are already cleaned and are nearly half healed. The right eye was already cleaned of the stone and... Not even a spec of water was in the clothes?' Reborn frowned. There was clearly someone here, he crossed out the Varia since they left Yamamoto here in the first place, the Cervello was neutral...then that means Tsuna's intuition was right, there was an intruder. He was cut off of his musings as the teens arrived.

"Yamamoto!" the group chorused.

'Reborn?' Tsuna thought as he saw the serious look the toddler has.

"Calm down. Your friend is already stabilized and thankfully, he was not drowned." The medic explained. "Some first aid and a night's rest and he will be good to go." He added as he began dressing the wounds.

"Reborn, where are you going?" Tsuna asked quietly as he saw the toddler slip away from the crowd.

"I'm going to make a call." the toddler lied, and continued to go deeper into the building.

Tsuna looked at his tutor oddly, he knew the gun wielding kid was lying but he didn't call on it. The brunet looked back at his unconscious friend and gave out a deep sigh. He was glad that Yamamoto survived, that was the close call.

"Ugh.." the soft pained voice of Yamamoto silently echoed and the group was once again huddled around the teen.

"Are you extremely alright Yamamoto?!" Rhoyei asked, his voice was louder than the others.

"Ow... Ahaha, can you tone it guys down? I'm a bit dizzy right now." the now awake teen replied.

"I'm extremely sorry!" Ryohei replied a bit lower, but still loud for the raven's taste.

"You stupid lawn head! The baseball idiot said to tone it down." Gokudera scolded at a much lower tone.

"Maa, maa. Guys give him a break he just came to consciousness." Dino's voice said on a much softer tone, silencing the crowd.

Yamamoto nodded in thanks and the blond boss gave a smile.

"I'm glad you're alright Yamamoto." Tsuna said, gaining the attention of the tall teen.

Brown eyes met amber and the eye contact was immediately cut off as Yamamoto quickly looked aside, as a guilty look marred his face.

"I-I'm sorry Tsuna, I let you down." the tall teen apologized.

"A-ah, you don't n-need to say t-that. I don't care if the ring was-." Tsuna began but was cut off when Yamamoto interrupted.

"But I-"

"No buts!" Tsuna shouted in a rarely shown temper. "I don't care if the stupid ring was won by Varia or even stolen by some ninja! All I care is that you survived and we still have our friend. This battle is dangerous and that's why I don't want any of you fighting in this shit! If Xanxus was not such dangerous person then I would gladly give the title to him, and let you all out this mess!"

Tsuna panted as he let out his frustration in his words, getting surprised faces from his friends and a raised eyebrow from Dino.

"It's not that easy Dame-Tsuna." Reborn's squeaky voice echoed getting the attention of the group towards him.

"I-I know that." Tsuna replied in a defeated tone as he watched the toddler holding a bokken.

"Here Yamamoto." Reborn said as he threw the object.

"Thanks kid." Yamamoto replied as he caught his bokken.

"You did well in the fight against Squalo, Yamamoto." Reborn said.

"Yeah, but it wasn't enough, next time I'll defeat him for sure." the tall teen replied, a determine glint in his eyes.

Reborn smiled at the teen's drive and stared all of the guardians. "We're tied with the Varia, two wins and two losses. We need to win the next battle and defeat is not an option."

"Reborn-dono, may I ask who's fighting the next battle?" Basil asked, they were occupied by Yamamoto's defeat that they haven't heard the announcement of the next battle.

"It's the Battle for the Ring of Mist." Reborn replied.

"Then it's Chrome's turn..." Tsuna murmured as he remembered the timid girl they met a day after the Ring Battles were announced.

Reborn nodded. "Let's go home now. You three still need to go to school tomorrow."

"Ehh, but it's Friday!" Tsuna complained and was rewarded by a kick in the head.

"And a school day." Reborn replied strictly. "Your attendance is low enough since you only go to school in the mornings and your finals will be in the next two weeks. Do you want to have a cramming before exams?" the toddler added with an evil smirk.

The brunet immediately shook his head in negative.

"That goes for you two as well." Reborn said looking at Yamamoto and Gokudera.

"Hai!" the two replied with a salute.

_Flashback end._

"Ow!..." Tsuna exclaimed as he felt something hit his head. He picked up the offending object and saw that it was a rubber bullet. He swiveled his head towards his tutor and found the toddler holding a gun with a silencer.

"Reborn!" the brunet silently exclaimed in exasperation.

"Just shut up and sleep Dame-Tsuna." Reborn ordered. "School will start in 3 hours and you haven't slept a wink after the Rain Battle."

"Jeez, you didn't need to hit me with a rubber bullet." Tsuna replied and got the feeling that Reborn was smirking despite not giving out an expression.

"I feel like it." Reborn replied, and got a sigh from his student. "Sleep now we have a long day tomorrow."

The brunet nodded as he reached for his blanket and covered his torso, he rested his head on his pillow and back towards his tutor, however sleep was not nearing his mind. "Ne, Reborn...have you found something unusual after the fight?"

Tsuna waited for a reply, but was not answered. He gave out another sigh and closed his eyes, Reborn might be sleeping already for all he knows.

Contradictory to what the brunet believed, Reborn is still awake and the toddler was lost in his musings.

Reborn did found something after the fight and it was a very small detail. The toddler had found a scratch mark on one of the support beams at the very top. It was three inches deep and two inches in length. It was as if something was embedded in the concrete. The toddler disregard the thought that it happened during the Rain battle. The height of the scratch was too high for for any of the sword to reach and besides the fight between Yamamoto and Squalo was on ground level, he saw the fight and he was 100% sure that none of the fighters manage to make that kind of mark. Reborn did not have any doubt that someone had infiltrated the Rain battle, and possibly the previous one too, if Tsuna's intuition has anything to say.

He watched his student slumber with a critical eye. Speaking of Tsuna.

The brunet was progressing in his training, always had that determined air around him but it will be not enough for the upcoming battle against Xanxus. Reborn must admit that he is worried about the outcome of the future Sky Battle. He needs to level up the brunet's training starting today.

The toddler blinked as he saw the sky lighten up in arrival of the sun, he jumped off of his hammock and quietly slipped away. The training can wait for another thirty minutes, his morning espresso awaits.

* * *

**Transfer Student's Residence: 0430**

"YOUTH!" the resident taijutsu specialist screamed as he banged the doors of his blond friend. "Naruto-san! Wake up! We need to show our youth to the world!"

A loud groan echoed from the room, but Lee continued to bang his fist, further waking up the household.

"Shut up!" a shout scolded, followed by a loud thud.

Lee looked crossed eyed as the sharp end of a kunai stuck out of the door. The sharp end was a hairline away from his nose. "But Naruto-kun! We had a youthful deal!" Lee reasoned and stopped banging his friend's door, slightly wary of the the weapon.

A loud groan echoed inside and followed by a sigh. "Okay, I'm up, I'm up." Lee heard a loud yawn inside. "Just give me a minute."

Naruto stifles a yawn as he slowly stood up and began to stretch his limbs. He arrived at two in the morning after watching the conclusion of the battle and the reconstruction of the building, he was impressed at the speed of the Cervello to renovate the whole building in 4 hours although it might be the whole army of construction workers they hired. He sent a clone to follow the Vongola contingent while Shikamaru followed the Varia.

At 0230 they arrived at home and shared what info they gathered, and when the time they decide who will write the report neither of the two was willing, they were tired and restless. In the end they decided to do rock, paper, scissors, and unsurprisingly Naruto won, his lucky streak when in came to gambling always paid off in these situations.

The blond grabbed his navy blue sweat pants and his burnt orange long sleeves, and changed into them. He opened his door, pulling out the lodged kunai and sealed it in one of his temporary tattoos. The blond blinked as he was met with a yawning figure of Shikamaru who was holding a folder.

"Yo." Naruto greeted, and grinned when he saw the Nara heir glare at him.

"Here's the report, send it to Kakashi-san via summoning." The lazy genius said giving the folder to the blonde.

Naruto carefully took their report and eyed the thickness of it. "You didn't sleep?"

"What do you think?" Shikamaru asked sarcastically. "I'm getting some shut eye now. Don't be late for breakfast we're going to school later. Oh and Kakashi-san relayed a message and it's on the counter."

Naruto shrugged as he watched his sleepy comrade went back to his room. He bit his thumb drawing out blood and began making hand seals at a very fast pace. He finished it with a slam on the floor and not a second later a puff of smoke erupted and a small kit came into existence.

"Yo, Kuro." Naruto greeted the fox.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" the kit asked with an excited voice, he was the first summon Naruto called and the blond took a liking to the odd kit.

Kuro, was very different from an ordinary fox. Instead of the regular reddish fur and black bushy tail of his species, his fur color was inverted, his having a slick black fur and fiery red bushy tail.

"I need you to send this to Kakashi-nii." Naruto said as he sealed their report in a scroll and handed the object to the fox.

"Sure thing." Kuro said as he bit the scroll and went to do his mission, his specialty was infiltration when he's partnered with Naruto on some missions and his odd color helped when it comes to darkness.

"Oh, by the way." Naruto said stopping the fox from it's track. "We're undercover, so no talking and don't be seen if possible. And tell Kakashi-nii I said hi."

Kuro nodded and disappeared from sight.

Naruto waved and went down to the kitchen and saw Lee doing push-ups near the counter. He was wearing a dark green track suit and his orange leg warmers. The blond shook his head and opened the fridge getting his bottled water. He picked up the scroll on the counter and read the coded message inside.

The blond eyed the message, he gave out a sigh and thought about the pros and cons of their order. "Oi, Lee did you finish reading this?" he asked the green clad teen.

"Yup!" Lee replied, and saw Naruto burning the scroll in his peripheral vision. The blond unsealed a scroll from one of his temporary tattoos and put it near the fridge, he then wrote a note on the fridge.

"What's that Naruto-kun?" Lee asked.

"Just something for lunch." The blond replied with a grin.

"Let's go Lee, first one to the park wins." Naruto challenged and as soon as they exited the gate the two began running at full speed. Not bothering to hide their speed since the whole residential area is still asleep.

The two blurred around the area, jumping on gates and walls, keeping distance from any security cameras in their way, Naruto even added some parkour moves to add some difficulty in their run, seeing this his wide eyed friend copied him and the two continued their race. Their house was half a kilometer away from the park, but the two created their own route which tripled their distance from the park. They were three hundred meters away from their destination when a gunshot rang in the air, echoing in the early morning wind.

"They're early today..." Naruto muttered glancing at his opponent, who ignored the gunshot, and is gaining speed.

"Shit." Naruto cursed in English as they have reached the 100 meter mark. He sped up and was head to head with Lee.

50 meters away, Naruto got the lead.

40 meters away, Lee jumped ahead.

25 meters away, Naruto was an inch ahead of Lee.

10 meters away, the two decided to wing it and jumped towards the finish line.

"I win!" the two shouted in unison as both of their hands touched the line at exactly the same time.

"Damn, It's a tie." Naruto cursed.

Lalalalalalla

Tsuna lazily jogged as disappeared from the corner of his house, he regret not sleeping earlier since Reborn woke him up from an hour of sleep, with cold water nonetheless. The brunet shivered as the cold draft of morning air shifted through his still damp skin.

"Ugh, why didn't I bring any jacket?" he muttered as he neared the park, just because he was still sleepy it doesn't mean he will slow his pace. Now that he knows that Reborn records his time, he wouldn't take any chances to be shot because he was late by a second.

"Now how about a Youthful spar?" A familiar voice echoed, in the morning wind.

'Eh, Lee?' Tsuna thought as he rounded the corner and saw the park, indeed it was Lee who voiced out a challenge. '..and Naruto? They're early today.'

Tsuna continued his jog and stopped when the blond boy called him.

"Hey, Tsuna!" Naruto called in English, getting the brunet's attention.

The Vongola heir entered the park and went towards the two.

"Tsuna-san! Are you going to join us in our youthful training?!" Lee asked/shouted.

"Hmm, m-maybe? I'll go ask Reborn. I'll c-come back after m-my first lap." Tsuna replied with a stutter. "Oh, and what's t-the challenge t-this time?"

"Ah just sparring, nothing too serious." Naruto answered.

"Sparring? Do g-guys k-know how t-to fight?" Tsuna asked in alarm, he only thought that the two were fitness freaks because of their unlimited stamina. At one point he even thought of Lee being a runner because of his attire.

"Just the basics, Tsuna-san." Lee replied, getting a smirk from Naruto. Somehow Tsuna had the feeling that the blond was laughing in his head.

"W-well, I b-better g-go ask Reborn t-then." Tsuna said and waved goodbye to his acquaintances and ran in a mad dash towards his home. He arrived and gave out a sigh of relief when no gun shots echoed.

"Reborn, Lee and Naruto a-asked me to join i-in their training a-again." Tsuna asked, as soon as he finished saying those words, he felt the painful feeling of a foot hitting his head.

"OW!" Tsuna shouted as he felt Reborn landed on his shoulder.

"You're late." the toddler stated.

Tsuna did not argue and went back to his run, trying to ignore the smirk in Reborn's face. They quickly arrived in the park and saw the two having at it with their fists and kicks.

"Whoa." Tsuna can only say as he say the rapid display of fighting skill in front of him.

Reborn eyed the fight between the two and can only conclude intermediate skill based on their fight. It was more of a play fight as he saw the two are only hitting the arms and torsos of their opponents, nothing too eye worthy to be noted about. The spar ended with Naruto holding Lee in a arm lock position, the fight had somehow ended through wrestling.

"Hah! First win!" Naruto exclaimed as Lee conceded defeat. "Now that's ten wins for me, one draw, and seven wins on your record." Naruto paused as he saw Tsuna watching at the sideline with Reborn in tow. "...And zero for Tsuna-san."

"Ahaha..." Tsuna quietly chuckled scratching the back of his head.

"Dame-Tsuna, I was expecting some number to tally their scores. I won't accept a zero for this competition." Reborn announced as he kicked his student behind the head, leading the brunet to ran towards the two.

"Whoa there, no need to be hasty." Naruto laughed as he steadied the falling brunet. "Now, who do you want to spar with?" he asked.

"Eto..., um, Lee?" Tsuna replied unsurely.

"Yosh! We will youthfully fight with our all Tsuna-san!" Lee excitedly exclaimed.

"What are the rules?" The squeaky voice of Reborn cut in.

"Just close quarters combat, no hitting below the belt and just take the basics." 'And no killing.' Naruto added in thought as he stepped back to give the two some space. He stared at the oncoming rising sun and as the first ray of light hit his face, he shouted for the match to start.

Lee immediately ran towards Tsuna slowing down his speed, he raised his right in ready for an attack and eyed the area where he was going to hit. If Reborn's training comes into fruition then the brunet has some basic skill in reading movements. He let out a smile as Tsuna dodge his punch, the green clad teen followed up with an elbow to the face which the brunet dodge again.

Naruto watched as Lee continued to attack while Tsuna dodged every strike.

"Ne, Reborn-chan." Naruto asked, inwardly smirking when he saw a twitch in the toddler's lips. "Why does Tsuna-san not attacking?" he asked.

"Dame-Tsuna, has only begun fighting just three days ago. He's just a beginner in the field." Reborn replied in an off manner.

"Hmm..." Naruto hummed as he continued to watch the fight.

"Uwah!" Tsuna shouted as he tripped. Lee used the opening and gave a punch towards the smaller teen's torso, he held back his strength so as to only gave a bruise as a result.

"Ow..." Tsuna murmured as he landed on the ground, the punch was not as hard as Reborn's kick but it held a lot of strength.

Lee was about to follow up a strike to the solar plexus but Tsuna saw it and immediately rolled away and stood up, he prepared a strike but he hesitated at the last second. Lee saw the opportunity and grabbed the half raised arm and twisted it at the teen's back.

"Do you yield?" Lee asked.

"Ouch." The brunet muttered and nodded.

"That was a very youthful spar Tsuna-san! Although you need to work on your attacks, your dodging skills needs a bit work though, you gave out too much movements." Lee commented.

Reborn raised at eyebrow the green clad teen, Naruto saw this and began explaining.

"In his hometown Lee was trained under mixed martial arts specialist when he was seven. He's a red belt in rank if I recall correctly, he picked up the habit to correct his opponent's mistakes during the fight." the blond said.

"Then, what about you Namikaze-san?" Reborn asked, curiosity got the better of him.

"Me? Well I'm more of melee fighter, or street fighter if you will. I also used to practice sword arts from time to time." Naruto replied as he walked towards the two.

"Ne, Tsuna-san how about you join us in our katas? It might help you in your fighting skills." the blond asked, joining the conversation.

"What a youthful idea Naruto-san!" Lee agreed.

Tsuna scratched the back of his head as he thought about the request. He can fight well when he's in Hyper Dying Will Mode, but when it comes to just being Tsuna all he can do is dodge and shriek. Reborn's teaching was focused on his HDWM, so it won't hurt to learn some moves aside from melee, right?

"S-s-sure why not?" Tsuna replied.

Lee enthusiastically began showing the different forms of katas, he assessed the brunet's skill and form and decided to teach Taijiquan. It can have a long term benefit for the brunet is he fully practiced the style, for now the basics will do.

* * *

**Sawada Household: 0645**

On the outside of the gates of the Sawada Household, we can find a green eyed, silver haired teen faithfully waiting for his Tenth.

Gokudera arrived on time as always, six forty-five on the dot, as he made this a habit on school days, from the time Juudaime accepted him. Although he also took some minutes to smoke outside of the compound, before he entered the house. He wouldn't want any nicotine to disperse inside the compound.

The silver haired teen threw his finished cigarette on the ground and stomped the cinders out. He was three feet away from the trash cans, so he disregard any rules about littering. Gokudera was about to open the gates, when the front door opened and out come Sawada Nana, the matriarch of the household.

"Are? Oh, Good Morning Gokudera-kun.!" the brunette greeted.

"Ah!, Good Morning Nana-san." Gokudera replied. "Is Juudaime ready yet?"

"Tsu-kun? Ah, he was out with his morning jog with Reborn-kun, he still hasn't returned yet." Nana answered touching her cheek with her hand, head tilted lightly to the left.

"Oh, is that so..." Gokudera replied with a slight dejected tone.

"Hm? Oh did you have any breakfast yet? Get inside, I'm sure Tsuna will be surprised to see you when he comes back." Nana rambled off as she dragged the bomber inside, not even giving a chance to the green eyed teen to argue.

Gokudera let out a silent sigh as he entered Juudaime's house, as usual it was a chaos of shouts and laughter, as Lambo, Ipin and Fuuta ran around. It was too early for them to be this energetic. The bomber froze when he heard a very familiar laughter joining the ruckus.

He quickly jogged to the living room and found Yamamoto playing with the kids, his minor injuries are already healed, right eye hidden behind an eye patch, and bandages were seen through his uniform. All in all the baseball idiot looked better than him after his fight. It's like his injuries healed quickly overnight, too quick for his taste. Being apprenticed under Shamal, he knew a few pointers when it comes to wounds, and he was sure that Yamamoto's injuries need a week and a half to heal.

"Baseball Freak.!" Gokudera pushed the thought on the back on his mind, there is a more important matter to attend to. "Why are you here?!"

"Oh, Gokudera! Morning." the tall raven greeted. "Well I'm waiting for Tsuna."

"You idiot! You should be at home resting!" the bomber scolded.

"Ahaha, you worry too much." Yamamoto replied and laughed as he saw Gokudera sputter his words. "My pops gave me the good to go sign this morning when he saw most of my wounds are healed. See?" the raven replied as he prodded some of his wounds and didn't flinch.

Gokudera was about to retort when the door opened and the person they're waiting for came in.

"I'm home!" Tsuna announced as he quickly shove off his shoes, he's late. Again. Lee was adamant at him to learn the first few katas of Taijiquan, and all he did was stumble on every position. Nevertheless Tsuna was glad that Lee was too enthusiastic to be mad at him, even Naruto had a few laughs when he butchered up some stance.

Reborn watched the entire lesson at the side, and inwardly encourage for his student to learn some martial arts, he might add the skill in fighting. Besides this was a good start to know the transferees.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera shouted excitedly.

"Ehh?, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna exclaimed in surprise and his eyes directly went to the person on the couch behind the bomber. "Yamamoto?"

"Yo!" The baseball player greeted.

"Why are you here?" Tsuna asked and noticed Reborn jumped off of his shoulder and went to the kitchen.

"They're waiting for you, silly." Nana answered as she entered the living room. "Now go upstairs and wash-up. Breakfast will be done in five."

The brunet nodded and ran upstairs, and after ten minutes he went down, fully dressed in school uniform and bag slung on his side. He entered the kitchen and saw the whole company already eating in chaos. Gokudera was pinching Lambo's cheek as the five year old continued insulting the silver haired. Yamamoto was laughing at the two while Ipin was stammering for the two to stop. On the other hand Reborn was stealing meals left and right and Nana was quietly laughing with Fuuta at the 'friendly' gathering.

Tsuna sighed and sat down and ate his half stolen meal, watching out for Reborn.

"Ne, Tsuna. How's your jogging?" Yamamoto asked as he transferred his attention to his brown haired friend.

"Oh, ehm, it's very entertaining." Tsuna began but was cut off by Reborn.

"Dame-Tsuna, made new friends today." the toddler inserted, giving the attention to his student.

"Oh, really Tsu-kun? Are they from your school?" Nana asked fervently.

"No, they're t-transfer students f-from overseas." Tsuna replied shyly at the attention. "I met them y-yesterday."

"So the rumors are true..." Yamamoto muttered, since he was absent in the past days, the only updates he got from the school are rumors brought by the costumers in their restaurant.

"Un, they're very friendly." Tsuna added. "T-they taught me some k-katas for T-taiuji-"

"Taijiquan." Reborn corrected shooting a glance at the brunet who grimaced at another butchered word. "Anyway, you should get going now, it's ten minutes till school time."

"HIIEEE!" Tsuna shouted in panic as he grabbed his bag, he was quickly copied by his two friends. "Why didn't you told us earlier Reborn!" Tsuna complained as the three of them wore their shoes.

"N-nevermind. We're off to school!" Tsuna yelled as Yamamoto and Gokudera bowed at Nana, and quickly ran after their sky.

* * *

**Namimori Middle: 0730**

"Made it!" Yamamoto shouted as they entered their classroom,the three quickly went to their chairs and sat, shying away from the glare their teacher directed at them, except for Gokudera who returned with a glare of his own.

"Now, as before you three interrupted." the teacher began, but was unfortunately interrupted when a knock came from the door.

"Again with the disruptions." he drawled as he walked towards the door and exited the classroom.

The moment the door closed, students began to mill around with their seatmates and some had even went to their friends from the opposite side of the room.

"Okay, back to your seats." the teacher announced as he entered the room. Students immediately went back to their perspective chairs and listened attentively as they saw their teacher brimming with positive enthusiasm.

"As you remember, the Namimori School was chosen to house transfer students from overseas." the teacher began.

The students nodded, as they remembered the excited announcement of their Director these past days that a famous company has chosen their school to house transfer students from the school that they funded in order to promote their name.

"There are six transferees, four of them are juniors and two of them are freshmen just like you. Since we have the least number of students in the class the Principal has decided that we will house the freshmen." The man added, drawing out excited chatters from both females and some males.

"Yes Kurokawa-san?" the teacher asked he saw the girl raised her hand.

"Wouldn't it be better if they enrolled at the next school year? Our finals are two weeks away." Hana reasoned, getting nods from some of the students.

"Ah yes, that was another dilemma for the sudden announcement." the teacher answered. "However, the schools of the transferees already held their finals this last week. They will use the remaining two weeks to familiarize with the school, so technically they are already juniors."

The added news drawn out some complains from some of the students.

"Now, now. None of that." the teacher calmed the students. "Now, please come in and introduced yourselves."

The door opened and two figures entered the classroom.

'It's Ino-san!" Kyoko thought as she recognized the blonde female.

"It's Naruto-san!" Tsuna quietly exclaimed, his voice was loud enough to gather the attention of his two best friends.

"Do you know him, Juudaime?" Gokudera whispered.

"Yeah, he's o-one of the transfer I b-befriended this morning." Tsuna replied.

"Tsuna what about the girl?" Yamamoto asked.

The raven's question was unanswered as the teacher told the transfers to start their introduction.

"Ladies first." the blond male said. The female only rolled her eyes as she started.

"Hello, I'm Yamanaka Ino, thirteen years old. I like flowers and shopping." Ino made her introduction short, any more than that, then she would give out her likings to some hobby that was too weird for them.

She nodded at Naruto who was as ever jolly as he can be.

"Yo! Name's Namikaze Naruto, twelve years old, will be thirteen on October. I like ramen, especially miso ramen with pork on top, although tonkotsu is also a tasty one, and also shio-" Naruto accented drabble was cut off as Ino put a hand on his mouth.

"Ehehe, may we take our sits?" the blue eyed girl asked as she glanced at the teacher who was wearing a confused face at the action.

The girl was mentally patting herself on the back from shortening of what would be a very long monologue of the blond on his favorite food, not to mention that it would take three hours for it to finish.

"Ah, yes, yes." The teacher said as he looked at his class record, he was planning to put the two, to the most friendly teens in his class. And that would be Sasagawa and Yamamoto.

"Yamanaka-san, please sit behind Sasagawa-san." the teacher instructed.

Ino didn't wait for her blonde friend to raise her hand, she already recognized Kyoko the moment she entered the room. The blue eyed girl gave a smile as she walked to Kyoko, leaving a disgruntled Naruto on the front.

"And Namikaze-san, please sit beside Yamamoto."

Naruto acted as if looking for the teen, since he supposedly don't know the raven. He did found Tsuna and gave the brunet a grin.

"Yamamoto-san please raise your hand." The teacher told the baseball player with a sigh as the tall teen was sleeping.

"Baseball idiot! Raise your hand!" Gokudera loudly whispered, as he lightly kicked the teen's table.

"Nani?" Yamomoto woke from his nap and found that all eyes were on him. The teacher pointedly looked at him and gave out a laugh.

"Sorry." the teen replied as he connected the hints before him, he raised his hand and the male transferee eagerly sat down beside him.

The whispers began to start as some brave students began to ask the transferees about themselves. The student were eager to know the two, Ino was a pretty girl rivaling their school idol in beauty, while Naruto was the youngest in the classroom which surprised most of them, and energetic too.

"Quiet please." The teacher raised his voice and the class was again silenced. "You can ask them during breaktime. Meanwhile, let's start with our lesson."

The first lesson was spent in attentiveness as the student wrote their notes diligently, it was after their history that the chaos began. Curious students from left and right fired off questions after one another, and the two new students were left frazzled by the time the Math teacher entered.

"Sit down." an older man entered, giving out a strict personality just by his tone.

Tsuna shrank into his seat as the teacher began his lesson, he regret exposing Nezu's papers to the school. The new math teacher who substituted him was much worse, he was always mocking and insulting those who didn't pass the passing grade, and the man gave too difficult problems to the students he least dislike and it was nearly half of the class, Tsuna was one on the list.

"I see that we have new students here." The man began, as he settled for a smirk when he saw Tsuna. "Sawada-san, since you have the lowest score in our last test, you can answer first. I hope you can show how it will be done for our transferees."

"Bastard!" Gokudera loudly exclaimed as he heard the underlying insult in the teacher's tone.

"It's alright Gokudera-kun." Tsuna said as he patted the bomber on the shoulder, the brunet resigned himself in another bout of humiliation when his name was called out.

The brunet dragged himself on the front and looked at the equation before him, he was sure Reborn taught him about this, but he forgot the process already, not to mention his thoughts were filled with Ring Battles these days.

"G-gomen, I-I don't know..." The brunet said after a few minutes of staring at the problem.

"As expected of the class' dead last." the teacher insulted and swerved his head towards one of the transferees ignoring the insults raised by Gokudera. His eyes landed at Namikaze who was writing something on a piece of paper.

"Namikaze-san, I won't let any student be lax around my class so you better pay attention." the man reminded, getting the attention of the blond.

"You know, sensei. The grades of the students reflects how well the teacher taught their subject. Since Tsuna-san there, was not able to answer your problem that means you're not a good teacher." Naruto replied looking straight at the fuming man. He spent tutelage under many adults in his past and he knows a good teacher when he see one.

"Idiot." Ino muttered under her breath, getting a glance from Kyoko.

"Are you insulting me?!" the math teacher said.

"Nope. I'm just assessing what kind of teachers Namimori Middle has, it seems the discipline is low when in comes to manners." Naruto replied. "I'm sure the Director will be displeased to know that the standards for mentors here are low."

It was true, aside from familiarizing themselves with the school the Director asked them for a favor to evaluate the teachers. He even asked to test the tempers of some teachers in order to know if they keep their professionalism in the job.

The teacher suddenly paled at the thought but his anger was too much to contain, he ignored his rational thought and shouted at the transferee.

"Well then, let's see if your teacher was a good one then!" the man shouted as he wrote a problem in the board.

Naruto rose an eyebrow when he saw that the problem was not in the curriculum. He would certainly fail if he was not taught by his surrogate older brother in mathematics, not to mention the advance education of their village. Considering that it was math, it was pretty much a basic skill to have in order to calculate the distances between you and the target, you could say it was acquired skill when it comes in their line of job.

"Then _pleas_e Namikaze-san, answer this." the man asked in a mocking tone.

The blond just shrugged as he hid his half-written report and went into the front. He took the chalk and began answering the problem.

Hana was surprised to see that their blond transferee was answering the problem without using any calculator, the problem has high numbers to compute and the kid didn't even waste a second to double check his work. She smirked as she held the boy in a new light, the boys in this class might be monkeys but not this one.

Naruto finished writing the answer as the bell rang. The solution pretty much covered the whole board, he was sure he didn't made any mistakes since it would take out too much time, and he was sure that the problem was college level since not one of the students -except for Gokudera and Ino- knew the solution.

He left the shocked class as well as an open mouthed teacher in the room as he went out to eat his lunch. It's not that amazing, Shikamaru can probably do it in ten minutes if he was not too lazy to solve it.

* * *

**Rooftop, Namimori Building: 1215**

The Namimori gang -Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto- opened the door to the rooftop and blinked as they saw unfamiliar faces greeted them.

There was a pale red head in the group,a raven who was lying on the floor gazing at the clouds, a very loud teen shouting youthfully and a very beautiful female wearing a boy's uniform.

"Lee?" Tsuna said as he saw the youthful teen still wearing his orange leg warmers.

"Oh! Tsuna-san! It's youthful for us to meet here!" Lee greeted with a shout.

Gokudera grimaced at the volume and Yamamoto tried to hide his flinch but failed.

"Hello, Lee..." Tsuna greeted.

The door of the rooftop opened again four figures entered. It was Naruto and Ino, Tsuna was surprised to see Kyoko and Hana as well.

The blond blinked as he saw three teenagers in their group. 'Huh? Tsuna?" he looked at the teens before him and assumed that they eat here during lunch. "Ah, you must eat here during lunch break. Sorry to intrude, the students down there are very curious."

"Ah, it's not a p-problem." Tsuna replied.

"Well how about you join us? Ino even brought up her friends." Naruto said as he sat on the floor, Ino and the others followed.

"Tsuna-kun! Do you know Naruto-san?" Kyoko asked as she sat down beside Tsuna drawing out a blush from the brunet.

"Y-yeah, I met t-them during my m-morning jog." Tsuna answered.

"Oh, sorry we haven't introduced ourselves yet." Naruto began as he introduce his friends.

"The red head is Subaku Gaara." the blond began. Gaara nodded at the group.

"The lazy one is Nara Shikamaru." he pointed at the lying teen.

"The one with orange leg warmers is Rock Lee." the said teen bared his good guy pose.

"The one with long hair is Yuki Haku." the girl in boy's clothes smiled.

"And yours truly, Namikaze Naruto." the blond ended their introduction.

"Ano, Yuki-san." Kyoko began, very curious as to why the girl wore the boy's uniform. "Why are you wearing a boy's uniform?"

The question brought out some chuckles from the group, while Naruto laughed outright.

"See! I told you to cut off your hair!" Narutoo teased his friend. "Now the school will think you're cross dressing."

"Eh?" the girl asked confusedly, followed by the boys.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you that Haku is a boy." Naruto said, getting shocked faces from their new friends.

'That's not possible!' the boys shrieked in their mind. 'He's more pretty than a girl!'

"Uwah! Gomene." Kyoko apologized as she bowed, hiding her embarrassment.

"No need. I was used to it." Haku replied.

'Even his voice sound feminine!' the boys added in their thought.

"Boys, please close your mouth, that's embarrassing." Hana reprimanded.

"Anyway, My name's Kurokawa Hana. The girl beside me is Sasagawa Kyoko, the monkey with silver hair is Gokudera Hayato, the tall one is Yamamoto Takeshi, and the brunet is Sawada Tsunayoshi. Pleasure to meet you." Hana quickly introduced her side, ignoring the indignant yell from the bomber.

"Well let's eat! I'm hungry." Naruto announced.

Haku immediately grabbed their large bento box, getting some looks from their new friends, the gray eyed teen ignored the looks as he untied the cloth revealing seven stacks of bento. He put the first bento at the middle and passed the rest.

Naruto excitedly opened the box at the middle, enthusiastically picked some of the food inside.

"Ano, what's that?" Yamamoto asked, he was familiar at the food since his dad was a sushi chef, but he just had to make sure.

"Shark fin." The blond replied and returned to his food. "You can try one."

The Vongola boys looked at each other. Yamamoto shrugged and picked one of the fins, and ate it. "It's delicious."

The group spent their lunch, knowing about each other, aside from Gaara who was silent all the time. Gokudera had found a liking to Naruto since he was very friendly with Juudaime, while Yamamoto befriended the youthful Lee (That was a really bad pun.) Kyoko had talked about their upcoming appreciation day with Ino and Hana found Shikamaru quite smart despite his lazy attitude. All in all it was a productive meeting.

When the bell rang the group returned to their perspective rooms.

"Gokudera-kun, did you know where Tsuna-kun went?" Kyoko asked, they are already seated on their chairs and were waiting for their teacher to arrive.

"Juudaime, was picked up by Reborn earlier." Gokudera roughly replied, he wanted to help Juudaime in his training but Reborn asked him to stay and gather notes for the lessons Juudaime missed. And as the Righthand man of Juudaime it was his duty, as Reborn has stated.

Ino overheard the conversation and pointedly looked at Naruto. The blond saw the glance from the blue eyed girl and discretely mouthed the word 'clone' and pointed at himself. The blonde girl nodded and went back to writing her report, it was coded so she wont worry for any peeking from her seatmates.

The clone sat grumpily, and waited for the class to end. It was bad enough that he's created to attend school, but to finish a half written report? This was just abusive of his boss. He thought heatedly as he glared the report peeking out of his bag, mocking him to finish it.

* * *

**Omake!~**

BOOM!

Explosions took off after one another as the members of the Cavallone Famiglia take cover. It took 5 minutes for preparation of the bombs double checking the right place to place the explosives in order to not completely demolish the building -and nobody wants to see a demolished building the next day, nor rebuild the whole thing over night- and another 5 minutes to let the water flush out.

The water began to flush out, and as soon as the water was low enough to walk in the Cavallone men and medics rushed it. The Cervello girls followed and began their search, not for the fallen Rain Guardian. But for their pet shark.

Yes, pet shark.

The Aquarion took up too much money to make, and they have only enough budget to build the whole thing. They don't have extra money to buy a shark or any sea beast, thus with a heavy heart, they lent their pet.

"Cynthia! Did you see him?" one of the Cervello girls asked in panic.

"No, Ninya." Cynthia replied, patting the girl at the shoulder.

"Come on! How can a fifteen feet shark just disappear?!" Ninya shrieked as she pulled at her hair.

"UWAAHHH! Kisame!" Ninya shouted as she was hugged by Cynthia. "He w-was so b-big! I w-was planning on r-raising h-him more to b-break the Guinnes record!"

"There, there. Ninya." Cynthia patted the crying girl.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, to be truthful, I'm a bit disappointed with this story, it didn't garner comments from you guys so maybe...nah. I love the plot too much to let this waste away. So basically I am vying for some comments, ideas, scenes and even some opinions on this chapter. Speaking of chapter...**

**My writing style is very meticulous, you see. Three chapters in a two day timeline, so please bear the sluggish plot line, as soon as the Ring Battle arc ends, I'll put some time skips since I have a special plot in mind for the next arc. No worries, hah what do you think of my Omake? -it's not that humorous if you have a pet shark and it's a bit unusual, so I apologize if I offended any of you :)**

**Till next update!**


	7. Two sides of a Coin

**A/N: Ok, ok I know that some of you might think that I abandoned this fic then you're wrong -ain't ya lucky?- anyway I am very sorry for not updating in the last so so months, since well, school started. The good thing is my Prelims was recently finished! Yey! And I'm not hogging your attention anymore... On the side note Please forgive me if I have lots of errors in the last part of this chapter, it's uhh... currently 4 am in my clock... and it's Monday... Oh good lord! Why did my writing skill upped while my grammar suck at this time of the day? And could you stop at the the bottom part I have a bit of an idea on the next arc XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't Own Naruto or KHR.**

* * *

Forest of Death: 1313

Naruto expertly hid himself from view as he watched the Vongola group gathered at a clearing. He closed in a few more feet and hid behind a dense cluster of leaves, not even making a sound. He positioned himself at the treetops at about thirty feet above ground level, beside it has the best vantage view.

"Clone 1-3, report." Naruto spoke at his earpiece, he used the camouflage technique and placed suppression seals on his body, he can't take any chances since he was warned enough about Vongola's intuition.

"This is Clone 1, I stuck myself at the cliff side, north east end." His own voice called back. "I went ahead and secured the clearing with recording devices."

Naruto was weirded about the first time he tried this process, but he was getting used to it.

"Clone 2, positioned near the bushes, west side of the clearing." Another clone reported.

"Squeak." A very unusual sound echoed in the earpiece, getting confused faces on the original and the clones.

"Clone 3?" Naruto replied, getting another squeak.

The original, let out a deep sigh, and questioned himself, why would his clone transform into a freaking rodent? Even if clone was an exact copy of him it doesn't mean he can't question his own eccentricities.

"I'll assume you turned yourself into a squirrel?" Naruto asked getting a negative squeak.

"Some kind of rat?" One of the clones asked, it was replied with a negative squeak.

"Is it red?" Another clone asked.

"Shrew?"

"Brown color?"

"Does it lives on the trees?

The original Naruto wondered when the heck did they start a game of charades in the middle of spying? With a rodent no less.

"Weasel?" Another clone asked, this time getting a excited squeak.

"Okay, okay. Enough charades. Clone three is a weasel, and considering that I am positioned in south, you're somewhere at the east." Naruto asked, getting a positive squeak. "Roger, that. Now back to the mission, we're wasting time."

Not a second later they heard a gunshot, and all eyes snapped back to the clearing.

Naruto watched as Reborn holstered his gun, and saw the Vongola heir snapped back into consciousness, Sky Flames burst out of his hands and forehead. The hidden blonde watched in amazement at the prowess.

"This is Clone 2, Basil of the CEDEF is arriving." The clone reported.

"Roger." The original replied.

"Ciaossu, Basil. You're just in time." Reborn greeted the Italian blond. "You know the drill." The toddler added.

The teen nodded and pulled out a small canister containing blue pills, he pulled out one and gulped it down. Not a second later blue flames erupted from his forehead and he held his metal edge in a stance. Tsuna quickly followed and prepared his own stance, orange eyes stared in a calm demeanor.

Reborn took hold of his pet chameleon and the reptile immediately transformed into a starting pistol. He watched the two fighters for a while and pulled the trigger. The moment the gunshot echoed the two teens ran towards each other.

Naruto watched attentively at the fight, and noticed the big difference of fighting skill between Tsuna and his HDWM self. Tsuna has a talent in dodging and evading attacks albeit with shrieking, while his HDWM self, held a calm and on guard aura that helped him think his attacks and defense. If Tsuna can master the Taijiquan then he can be on par with his HDWM when it comes to fighting, well except of the benefits the Sky flames gives.

Basil, on the other hand has mastered his own style with his metal edge, based on how the Italian borne pushed Tsuna in a metaphorical corner. His own HDWM has added a fighting edge and also his experience when it comes to fighting put the Italian blond on a higher pedestal.

Naruto rose an eyebrow when the Vongola heir, used a combo of two of the katas taught by Lee earlier. He was impressed that Tsuna had manage to memorize them despite butchering the stances this morning.

The tables are now turned when Tsuna manage to disarm one of Basil's metal edge, the brunet closed in and began his attack, using some moves of the Taijiquan. While Basil was put on defensive, using his metal edge to block some strong punch and the occasional kicks. The spar continued until it reached two hours, having the occasional break for some water or reloading of their pills/bullets.

"Dame-Tsuna." Reborn called as he neared the two resting fighters.

"Hai." The brunet stood up and looked attentively at his tutor, he manage to ignore the dame nickname from the toddler.

"We'll be resuming with your training with the Zero Point Breakthrough." Reborn, ordered, he kicked his student when the teen let out a frustrated sigh. "No complains!"

"B-but Reborn! You only told me that, that technique was created by Primo and his training to create it, and nothing else! Not even a hint on how to do the technique." Tsuna complained mumbling the last part, it was a valid one, since he was sure Reborn has no idea how the technique work either.

Tsuna shriek when he dodge a bullet. "Reborn!" He reprimanded, and got follow up shots near his feet. "Okay! Okay! I'm doing it! Just no shooting." The brunet begged.

The gunshot immediately ceased and Tsuna ran towards a higher rock platform in the clearing. Basil threw him a pill and the brunet nodded in thanks, he gulped down the blue pill and felt the familiar calming effect the HDWM gives.

Reborn watched his student stand there contemplating about the mysterious technique, he was sure that by following the training program the Primo did in the past, they can recreate the Zero Point Breakthrough. There are no percentages in here since it is all up to Tsuna. Besides he can also time how long the HDWM lasts, a win win situation for him.

"Basil take the time." He ordered, looking at his Leon watch. It's 15 until 3, there's still plenty of time before the Mist Battle.

At 1520, a speck at sky was noticed by one of the Naruto clone.

"This is Clone 1, incoming arrival at 2 o'clock, figure still unidentified." The clone reported, eyeing the speck as it neared. He immediately recognized the figure as the Rain Arcobaleno, flying with his pet eagle. "It's the Rain Arcobaleno, Colonello. Clone 3 be aware of predators, he brought his eagle."

"Squeak!" The third clone replied, assuring his team that he's well hidden.

They watched attentively as the two Arcobaleno greeted each other with a headbutt.

"Oi, Reborn! Kora!" The blond chibi called as he butted heads with the raven. "Why did you call me here for? Kora!"

"Ciaossu! Colonello." Reborn greeted, returning the headbutt with equal force.

"They sure have some thick heads..." Clone 2 mumbled softly.

"What do you think od Mammon of the Varia?" The raven haired toddler asked.

"The Mist Guardian? Kora." Colonello asked.

"Aa, the one with frog on the head." Reborn confirmed.

"Now that you mention it. His size is a bit similar to us, kora." The blond murmured. "Wait...Don't tell me he's an Arcobaleno? Kora."

"It's a possibility, however our pacifiers didn't react when we're close to them. There's another chance that it was just an illusion." Reborn replied.

"True, since we all know the members of the Arcobaleno including the missing one. Kora." The blond agreed but cam into a conclusion on what he just said. "Don't tell me it's him? Kora."

"Who knows." Reborn replied offhandedly.

"But if it's him, then we won't have a chance against Varia." Colonello replied negatively.

"You don't know the full power of our Mist Guardian yet." The hitman replied. "Besides Chrome came with a two-in-one package, so to speak."

Colonello looked his fellow Arcobaleno oddly.

"Two-in-one?" Clone 2 as he heard the conversation, he discretely made another clone and immediately let it puff out of existence, the smoke was small enough to be unnoticeable from the eyes of their targets.

The original Naruto blinked as a new information was processed by his mind. Dokuro Chrome was confirmed as the Mist Guardian of the Vongola group, however they only manage to hack her past information and her current connection with Mokuro's gang but not her sudden mastery of the Mist flames. The little clue they gathered might be the key to this mystery.

He bit his thumb drawing out blood and summoned Kuro. The fox raised a non existent eyebrow as he noticed that he is on top of a tree, Naruto nowhere in his sight.

"Naruto?" The oddly colored fox asked in a whisper.

"I'm here Kuro, in camouflage." The blond explained getting a nod from his summon. "Wait a minute I'll just write an update."

The blond unsealed a scroll and pen and began writing the current info they gathered. They will need all information related the current state of Mokuro as well as his relation to Chrome. Maybe the CEDEF has a hand into it.

Kuro watched in mild curiosity at the pen and scroll floating before him, he knew that Naruto was writing but it was just plain weird watching non sentient objects move by themselves. Naruto sealed the scroll and handed it to Kuro.

"Now, Kakashi-nii is on the shopping district and has a part time job in one of the cafes, in the area. So be careful not to be seen by cameras and if possible no contacts with humans. Also-" Naruto was cut off by Kuro when the kit interjected.

"No talking, or pranks. Got it." Kuo blandly added, knowing the standard rules when it comes to undercover mission. He might not be a fully grown fox yet, but he learned from the best.

"Now off, you go." Naruto said.

Kuro can't see his partner but he knew that the human was making a shooing motion at him. He stuck his tongue out in teasing and left, not making a sound as the odd colored fox jumped from tree to tree.

"Cheeky fox." Naruto grumbled as he went back to observing the group.

"Oi, Reborn, I was wondering what kind of training you're putting him through, Kora." Colonello asked as he pointed to the standing Tsuna on a rock platform.

"Were timing his Zero Point Break." Reborn replied

"Zero Point Break?" The blond toddler parroted.

"Just watch." The hitman replied.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened.

"How much longer until it starts? Kora." Colonello complained.

"It seems it won't appear today." Reborn answered casually. "Anyway-" the toddler was interrupted when his student interjected with a question.

"Ne, Reborn, are there no other hints on this technique? All I came up was ideas on some moves since I don't have anything to base Zero Point Break with." HDWM self asked, unflamed hand scratching his chin in a thinking pose.

'We might as well start with that.' Reborn thought.

"Aa." The toddler agreed vocally.

Tsuna snapped out of his HDWM and jumped down from the rock platform. He sat near the group and waited for Reborn to ask his question. He was brimming with ideas that he thought when he was in HDWM, and he needs to ask more questions.

"Basil could you please go down and get some refreshments? We're running out." The toddler requested sat in front of his student.

"Hai, Reborn-dono." the Italian born replied.

"I'll come with you, kora." Colonello said as he perched himself on the shoulder of the CEDEF protege, his eagle took the other half. Without a word the two walked out of the clearing and disappeared in the greenery.

"Clone 2." Naruto said as he closed in with the pair in the clearing.

"On it." his clone replied and followed the two blonds.

"Clone 3, send a replacement."

"Squeak!" his clone turned rodent complied.

"Now, what have you got?" The toddler asked.

"W-well, I got a theory although I need to get some answers first." Tsuna asked, trying to lessen his stutter in front of Reborn.

"Aa, now shoot." Reborn ordered.

"Are there any properties of the Dying Will Flames?" The brunet asked.

"Yes, there are." Reborn confirmed, drinking his espresso that came out of nowhere. "Storm Flames has the ability to disintegrate anything it touches, including other flames. Rain Flames has the ability to calm, tranquility if you might say, it can slow down and rob the strength of their opponents, though it depends on the strength of the flame. Sun flames is more of a support type of flame, it can induce and improve the efficiency of any activity, that includes healing wound injuries."

The toddler paused as he took a sip. "Lighting flames firms or solidifies any object, this can be used for defense. As for it's offense the flames can take the properties of lighting, electrocution for example and if utilized efficiently it can cut through objects. Cloud flames has the ability to propagate the amount and size of an object, befitting for wide range attacks. Mist flames, has the ability to create something out of nothing, it can construct any imaginable situations or objects, a flames that specializes in illusions.

Reborn looked at his student and saw the brunet take in the information with a rare shown attentiveness. "And lastly, the Sky Flames, it has the ability to harmonize all flames and can partly utilize other flames."

Silence echoed throughout the clearing as Reborn, watch his student's facial reaction. At first it in deep concentration, followed by a sudden light in the eyes, and it was ended with a triumphant look. The raven haired was amused at how open the brunet was, although he need to curb that openness when it comes to boss duties and fighting.

"Got it!" The brunet yelled. "Reborn, Sky Flames harmonize right? If I can harmonize the flames of my enemies with my sky flames, then maybe I can absorb them and add it into my own! The question is... How?" He ended the thought with a dejected tone, his theory might be right, but it was just as it is, a theory.

"Dame-Tsuna, did you forget that your gloves has the same component as the Sky Flames?" Reborn reminded, somewhat proud of the brunet, the sudden bout of genius was a surprise to the toddler. "This might work out, although we need to test this one."

Naruto took the time to record that dialogue. It seems that there something more about Dying Will Flames aside from being a physical projection of a person's will, this can really add some serious firepower if the Hidden Villages learn to harness it. The blond suddenly froze when the brunet looked straight at him, Naruto reasoned to himself that the camouflage technique is still in use as well as the suppression seals, reassuring himself that he is still well hidden. Despite that being under the gaze of the Vongola Intuition was a very unnerving experience.

Reborn looked at his student when the brunet did not reply, noting that Tsuna was unconsciously looking at the tree near the clearing. He eyed the direction of his student's gaze and found nothing suspicious, is it another infiltrator? A spy maybe? But who? Varia had stayed out of their sight during the day... He was tempted to just shoot the whole tree to let out his frustration at the sporadic intervals of the unknown character.

"Ne, Reborn...' Tsuna said, eyes straight into the hidden blond. Unfortunately he was cut off as the bush rustled at the west of their clearing.

The brunet eyed the rigid form of his tutor and Tsuna can't help but feel nervous about the situation, there are many wild animals here in the forest and he doesn't want to meet even a single one of it.

Another rustle echoed as the creature jumped out of the bush. It was a weasel, brown coat and all. It was looking at them in curiosity.

Tsuna watched the rodent and his intiution gave off a low buzz. Not a second later the creature returned to the undergrowth, making noises along the way.

Naruto gave a silent appreciation to his clone turned rodent made to distract the targets, his paranoia had doubled after the close call. The blond watched as the Vongola heir turned his attention back at their topic.

"How do we start this?" The brunet asked, glancing back at the tree.

"We'll start with Basil's flames, he can coat his metal edge with flames and we'll start from that." Reborn replied, while raising an eyebrow to his student when the brunet keep glancing back at the tree.

Naruto's nerves began to frazzle as the repeated glance the brunet made at him added another bout of anxiety in his mind. He was saved when his second clone announced his return along with his blond targets. When the two blonds entered the clearing, the Vongola heir's attention was transferred to his current task at hand, his focus undivided.

"Clone 2 here." The voice in his earpiece said, knocking out the tension from Naruto.

"Yes? Any updates on your side?" The original asked.

"They had met the two boys from Mokuro's gang, nothing significant happened aside from traditional banter." The clone replied.

"Noted." Naruto replied.

"Squeak!" A terrified squeal shouted from the earpiece, getting the attention of the group.

"This is Clone 1, Clone 3 is currently being chased by the eagle." A clone reported, an amused tone in his voice. His position on the cliff made him able to see the hunt.

"Dammit." Naruto cursed, despite his high vantage view he cannot see them due to the undergrowth, although the flapping of wings was a give away. He blinked as he received the memories from the previous clone replacement.

"Oh, close one..." Clone 1 commented. "...And he's safe."

Naruto gave out a relieved sigh, spying on the Vongola is much more stressful that what he expects it to be, heck, by the end of this mission the ends his hair might have enough gray hairs to rival his red highlights.

* * *

Namimori Shopping District: 1200

Kakashi sighed as he trudged towards the cafe, covering up a yawn all the while. He didn't expect that the report will be finished at 2 in the morning, even with the help of a clone. From allowances to drafting of reports and until it went to some miscellaneous paperwork in the school. He should have realize long ago that long term undercover missions will equal to long hours of paperwork.

The silver haired man stopped and eyed the ramen shop across the road. He knew that this is the location of their main target, but it is not the right time. He ignored the near invisible tendrils of mist flames coating the shop, but he was weary enough to evade it if comes near to him. Kakashi looked at the building closely with a critical eye, he noted the simple design and the homey atmosphere, he admits that their target has a very tactical position when it comes to hiding, the shop was discrete and easily overlooked. Just hiding in plain sight.

Kakashi shook the thought back to his head and continued his trudging, he deliberately decreasing his pace intentionally trying to be late for his work. Old habits die hard, and his infamous tardiness was one of them.

Thirty minutes into his shift, Kakashi entered the backdoor of the shop fully expecting a pissed off manager. But it seems that Yume has a very long patience when he saw her smile in greeting.

"Oh good, you're here." Yume greeted as soon as she saw him, she began pushing the tall teen towards the back room.

"Now, your t-shirt will do for now, just wear the apron." the older woman ordered and pushed the garment to Kakashi. "Now since you are a trainee, you can wear civilian clothes. But come next week and you will be fitted for the uniform."

Kakashi dumbly nodded and wore the garment, still unused to a civilian ordering around an elite, granted that he was undercover but Kakashi never thought of a day like this.

"Ah, Yume-san." the silver haired teen called as he pulled out the files from yesterday. "I already filled it in."

"Hm, oh." the brunette grabbed the filed and scanned the bio. "Oh, you're still college?"

"Hai." the tall teen confirmed.

"Hmm... I take it you'll quit when the next semester comes?" Yume replied, still pondering at the info before her.

"... I might." Kakashi finally replied, still unsure of the future plans. "Although, I think I need a part time work just to add some extra cash." He added, just to remain in the good grace of the manager.

Yume hummed in thought as she continue to read. "And you're a foreigner?"

"Ah, no. I was raised here in Japan and grown up in England. I visit from time to time, I'm still a native at heart." Kakashi explained his false back story. He was used to lying that it was just another gained habit in the job, well except when he's in front of their leader.

"Well, everything seems to be in order." Yume said with a smile. "Cana, has been waiting for your arrival. So you better go out, that girl has quite the temper."

Kakashi nodded and went towards the front, as expected Cana was fuming at his entrance.

"Hatake-san! You're late!" She scolded loudly, there were no costumer at the time and the petite girl used the opportunity to reprimand her co-worker.

"Ahaha, gomen. I helped an old lady across the road." Kakashi replied his lame excuse. "And she invited me to lunch." He added just to add some ire to the girl.

"Jeez, no one would take that long!" She complained crossing her arms. "There is still some basics I want to teach you, now get you butt here."

Kakashi raised his arms in a placating manner. "Maa, maa, no need to shout."

Cana spent the first three hours teaching the basics and some recipes for some brews, and she was surprised that the trainee easily followed the instructions and not even a single mistake was made. She knew that the tall teen has no experience when it comes to brewing -coffees that is- and was tempted to ask her co-worker if he has an eidetic memory or he's simply a genius, it was a curiosity and a mystery. The only problem is, she has no love of solving these kinds of problems, her only interest lies on earning money.

Soon enough, the hands of the clock reached three o'clock and the first wave of early costumers trickled in. There was an old foreigner who was a regular in their cafe, two pairs of couples and a group of highschool girls, who giggled as they saw Kakashi busying himself with the preparations. Cana rolled her eyes at the recent costumers, she admit that her co-worker was handsome and well built, but it he's not some poster to ogle at. Although she had suspicions that Yume 'hired' -more like forced- the tall teen to get the job for his looks, Cana commends her manager for a nice catch though. Not to mention the half of the extra cash from the tip box was given to her.

The brunette manned the register and brewing while Kakashi was in charge of preparations and serving, the manager would sometimes help if the costumers were too much for the two to handle. She was sitting idly at the counter and looking at their costumers, amusing herself at their quirks and habits. The brunette was suddenly pulled out of her musing by Kakashi.

"Ah, excuse me Cana-chan." The tall teen said, glancing at the corner of their window. "Do you mind if I take some minutes outside?"

"What for?" Cana asked as she eyed the teen.

"Smoke." The teen simply replied, and saw the petite woman rose an eyebrow.

"You smoke?" The brunette parroted, she wasn't expecting for the teenager to smoke nor even have a vice at such age. Not that she has anything against smokers, everyone has their own bad habits, even she had one. Besides it's their own choice to risk their health.

Kakashi nodded.

"Oh." Cana can only reply. "Ten minutes, since rush hour will be here in any minute."

Kakashi gave a thanks and went to the back door.

"And tell Yume-san to sub you for a while!" Cana hollered in her moderate voice. Not a minute later Yume arrived, a questioning look on her face.

"Ara, where's Kakashi-san?" The older woman asked. She heard her name being called and immediately went to the counter.

"Cigarette break." Cana replied in a deadpan.

"Oh." the manager can only reply.

At the back door...

Kakashi scanned the surrounding for any cameras or eyes that might peek at him. He saw the CCTV at near the back door and walked out of it's sight. Deeming that the area is clear of any wandering eyes, he slumped against the tree a few feet away from the shop. He took out a cigarette and lighted it, it was one of the habits he took from Asuma, one of his colleague. But the smoking was just for appearance sake, there's another agenda why he needs to get out of the shop.

"You can come out now, Kuro." Kakashi called out. He sensed the fox earlier and confirmed his arrival when a red bushy tail poked out of the window.

Without a sound the odd colored fox landed beside him, carrying a scroll in his muzzle.

"An update?" He asked as he took the scroll, blowing out the smoke.

"Yeah, Naruto-kun was tailing someone in the forest." Kuro replied with a shrug.

Kakashi unrolled the scroll and read the update, his eyes sharpened as he eyed the info inside. In seems that he'll be home early for some hacking.

"You can go." Kakashi said, to the fox and the mammal gave salute and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The silver haired teen threw the nearly finished cigarette and stomped out the cinders. He blew out the smoke and began making hand signs. Not a second later, a clone appeared before him accompanied by a transparent smoke, it was another branch of the cloning technique that vary from the regular one that was always used by Naruto.

There are four types of cloning technique. First was the basic clone technique, a simple illusion of the person can be easily identified if it was touched. The second one is the object cloning technique (A/N: Sorry for the bad naming, I just came up with on the go.) This one was used to multiply the number of projectile that was thrown to cause a wide range damage. The third one is the elemental cloning, just like the Dying Will Flames, the soldiers of the Hidden Nation has their own type of power mostly derived from the nature. Soldiers can create a clone based on their power type, for example Haku has an affinity with snow so he can create a clone made of it and direct it with their intentions, although when an element clone is destroyed it will return to it's original appearance. Lastly, the fourth type of clone is the shadow clones, this is the most advance and energy draining technique on the list but has it's own benefits, not to mention the most used technique by Naruto. Shadow clone can create a solid clone and has it's own mind, so to speak, it can transfer memories they gain on their journey and pass in on to the original, although the downside of this technique is that after one strong hit to the clone it will be dispelled.

But that was in the past, this time the shadow clone technique was upgraded and the clones were more durable, withstanding twenty hits before it can be dispelled. There are some individuals in his village that can create clones that can withstand hits of more than standard amount, Kushina held the record by creating a clone that survived after fifty hits, granted that the one who hit her was beaten thrice the hits.

However the disadvantage of this technique, is that the original will feel the damage after the clone is dispelled. This type of technique is the one Kakashi is currently using, he had in mind of the event yesterday -female harassing him- and took the precaution. Besides, it's better if he can only 'feel' the after effect than to experience it first hand.

The two identical shared a nod and the clone went back inside, he glanced back to the original and found the area empty.

"He must've used the camouflage..." the clone mumbled and entered the shop.

Along the way to the counter, the Kakashi clone felt nervous, his boss has an ability to withhold some memories if he creates a clone and somehow he had the feeling that he was missing something, and as he opened the door towards the counter he has only one thing to say in his mind.

'Fuck... I hate you boss.' He cursed in his head as he was greeted by a sea of giggling girls and older females lining up before the counter.

* * *

Transfer Students Residence: 1823

"Sorry I'm late." Naruto announced as he entered the room via window, his mission had unfortunately ended at sundown and their meeting was moved up by thirty minutes. In short, his tardiness was an accomplishment Kakashi would be proud of.

Kakashi excused his surrogate brother's tardiness, he was not a hypocrite. No need to scold a tardy when he's much worse in that area. He grabbed the report given by Haku, who had recently finished his report and looked at Naruto.

The blond took the silent order and began his report. Starting from the moment he followed the Vongola Group until it reached the part where his targets discussed the flames.

"Did you manage to get some pills?" Ino asked, getting a negative shake of head from the blond.

"No, although I think I can manage to get some. That is if I can make a contact with Basil or maybe even steal from him in the Sawada Household." Naruto replied and contemplated his words.

"I think you should sit this one out Naruto." Kakashi said. "Shikamaru will do it during the Mist Battle, hopefully the CEDEF protege have some extra in his room.;"

Shikamaru nodded at his order, he can easily blend in the shadows, aside from tactics and planning he had some skills in subterfuge.

"Now, Ino and Haku. The two of you will be the one watching the Mist Battle this time." Kakashi ordered. "And Naruto will help you two prepare for some concealment, we can't be too lax around the Mafia."

The two nodded and the group was immediately dismissed scurrying for the dinner and preparing for their night patrols.

Lalalalalalal

Namimori Middle Gymnasium: 1900

"The Varia are sure early..." Yamamoto commented as they entered the gym watching the enemy lazing around across the building. The gang had met in the gates fifteen minutes earlier than the scheduled time hoping to be the early group this time, however it seems that the Varia has a knack for over punctuality.

"It doesn't matter." Gokudera grumpily replied. "The Kokuyo group is late."

"Maa, maa. I'm sure they'll be here any minute." Yamamoto said positively.

True enough, three silhouette can be seen from the door. One petite figure and two tall ones. Seconds later the three figures entered the gym, their entrance was greeted by a loud insult by one silver haired teen which was immediately retorted by the blond member of the late group and soon enough, insults flew over the air.

"Hello Chrome." Tsuna greeted with a meek wave.

"S-sorry we're late boss." The indigo haired girl replied.

"Eh, no worries you're just in time." Tsuna replied, reminding himself that the girl before him will fight moments later. "Anyway, be careful and good luck."

"Un." The girl replied, holding tightly to the trident she always carries and walked towards the middle of the gym, where her opponent and the Cervello girls stood.

"The Battle for the Mist Ring will be held inside this building, the contenders may use the equipment inside the gymnasium. There will no need of perplexity in this battle." One of the Cervello started, gathering the attention of the two group.

Tsuna blinked as he replayed the word in his head. "That's it? How are they going to fight?" He asked his group, getting similar confused face from them.

"Yeaah, I also wonder why..." Yamamoto added his two cents. "I mean, the previous battles has many rules and such."

"The specialty of the Mist Guardians are illusions. Creating something from nothing, and nothing from something, thus bewildering the enemy. Rendering the Family's true form with intangible with visions of deceit." Reborn said, answering the questions of the group. "This is the role of the Mist Guardian."

"The illusions themselves will be the one that will create the obstacles, kora!" Colonello added as he made an entrance from an opened window, jumping away from his eagle and landed soundlessly on top of Ryohei's head.

"Master Collonello!" The boxer greeted as steadied his posture. "I thought that it was time for you to go sleep with Kyoko."

"I have some interest in this battle, kora!" The blond baby answered. "I want to confirm my thoughts about that chibi over there." He added as he pointed the Varia's illusionist with a thumb.

"Confirm about what?" Gokudera asked, eyeing the hooded baby.

"That he's an Arcobaleno..." Colonello replied. "We'll be in trouble if I'm correct about this hunch."

"So you're worried after all." Reborn commented idly.

"The battle will commence shortly." The second Cervello girl said, getting the attention back to the fight. "The audience area is being set up, please note that there are infrared triggers installed, any uncalled actions will lead to disqualification of your guardian."

Shortly after, two cages are lowered on both teams, preventing any disruptions that might happen.

"Then the Battle for the Ring of Mist: Marmon vs Dokuro Chrome, begins!"

* * *

Ino watched intently as the eye patch girl twirled her trident and slammed its butt on the ground. For a moment, the Yamanaka heir expected that this will be a battle of cunningness and ingenuity, where there would be subterfuge and traps since most of their genjutsu specialist has these qualities. This is her first time witnessing a battle of pure illusions, thus she held great expectations for this fight.

She was sitting on the balcony at the corner of the gym, having a great vantage view of the battle as well as a peripheral view of the Vongola group. Haku had meanwhile shadowed the Varia at the opposite side, since both of them are invisible and untraceable, Ino could only trust the word of the feminine boy.

Her hopes were granted when she felt a displacement in the air, letting her know that the illusion has started. Ino saw the cracks beginning to form on the floor from the impact, the fissure quickly widened in a five meter circumference, it was followed by an unbelievable case, huge chunks of the floor began to float into the air seemingly defying the gravity.

The hidden blonde watched the opening salvo with a critical eye, she admits that the illusion was very well made, however she was disappointed at the amount of control the girl seems to have over her technique, it was bare minimum of her senses that was being tricked, she can easily cancel the hold over it with a simple burst of her energy. The feeling of being airborne was quickly dismissed as she returned her attention to the fight.

"It seems that we use similar techniques." Mammon stated, as his figure jumped from one floating debris to another.

Ino felt another displaced air shrouded her senses, it was another illusion, this time it came from the hooded chibi.

"But this is nothing but a child's play." The hooded toddler added as he reached his enemy and suddenly tentacle like vines burst from his face and tangled itself into the Vongola's Mist Guardian, cutting the concentration of the eye patched girl and thus the floating debris slowly disappeared.

"W-what is that?!" Tsuna loudly exclaimed as he saw Chrome being strangled by a bunch of tentacle like things.

Ino ignored the brunet as she felt another displacement in the air and not a second later the once being strangled eye patched girl appeared behind the hooded toddler, her illusionary double gave out a a struggling act. The blonde glanced at the far right corner of the gym where a basket of basketballs suddenly disappeared.

"Weak." Mammon commented. "You won't even make a good side show."

"Who are you talking to?" Chrome asked as she revealed her escape.

"Over here." The indigo haired girl added as she released the illusions of her double and revealed the missing basketballs. Shocking several of her comrades of her sudden appearance.

"W-what just happened?" Yamamoto asked as he steadied for balance, he glanced at his friends and noticed that some of them are still outbalanced, since they were in the closer to the radius of Chrome's attack their senses was greatly affected.

"Illusions... You should know this since you have battled this technique before." Reborn commented getting the attention of the Vongola group, both he and Colonello were still standing, having their fair share of fighting illusionists in their past they have their own way of adapting in these kinds of situation.

"From the beginning of the battle those two had already created illusions, deceiving one another in a continuous flow and neither had stopped from their attacks." The gun wielding toddler elaborated. "It's a battle that one rarely sees."

'You give too much credit for those Guardians...' Ino thought as she overheard the Sun Arcobaleno's monologue. 'I would like to see them under the Sharingan.' She added vindicated at the not so subtle way of their attacks. They might have a very good imagination but they don't use their minds.

"Now that you mention it... Chrome's using Mokuro's state of hell, isn't she?" Tsuna commented. He remembered the first time he met Chrome the evening before their encounter with the Varia

* * *

_Flashback:_

"_Reborn! Wait!" Tsuna called as he ran at towards Reborn. "You said he won't be coming home for next ten days!"_

_The 'he' Tsuna was preferring to was his father, Tsuna was surprised at seeing his dad already at home. The brunet was surprised to say at least._

"_Tsu-kun!"_

_Tsuna stopped abruptly as the voice of Nana called meters away. _

"_Can you please get Lambo-kun and the others, dinner will be ready in an hour!" Nana called. "I'm preparing for a welcoming feast for your father!"_

_The brunet paused as the thought of his father entered his mind, he willed mind to stop the negative thoughts and flashbacks of his mother crying alone in kitchen began repeating in his mind. Tsuna was knocked out of his musings as Reborn jumped on his head. _

"_Hai, Maman, we'll get them." Reborn answered, the two watched as Nana returned back inside._

"_Let's hurry Dame-Tsuna." Reborn ordered as he none too gently kicked his student. He eyed the brunet when he received no retorts, it was unusual for the boy to be quiet after being hit._

_Minutes after wandering the area, Tsuna was still quiet, it unnerved the toddler since the silence was beginning to get uncomfortable - not that he'll admit it._

"_Dame-Tsu-" Reborn was about to confront his student's dilemma when a voice called for them._

"_Tsuna-kun!" The worried voice of Kyoko called for them as she ran in their direction._

"_K-Kyoko?" Tsuna asked in surprise, seemingly knocked out of his thoughts and this time permanently._

"_Did- hah- Lambo and the -hah- others already went home?" The blonde asked as she evened her breath, she had been running for fifteen minutes searching for the kids._

"_I was looking for them actually." Tsuna replied._

"_Oh no." Kyoko whispered._

"_What happened?" Tsuna asked as alarm bells began to echo in his mind._

"_Haru and I, was separated from them sometime ago. Haru decided that we split so we can find them faster." Kyoko explained and began biting her lower lip in worry._

"_Don't worry Kyoko-chan, we'll take over." Tsuna said as he glanced at Reborn. "For now, call Haru and go to our house, mom has prepared a feast." the brunet added and hid the relief when Kyoko agreed although hesitantly._

_Not a second after Kyoko turned at the corner, Tsuna ran frantically as he doubled his efforts in searching for the kids, repeating in his mind that the kids has no way of protecting themselves from assassins. Reborn jumped out of his perch and along his student._

"_Stay away!" a panicked shout echoed in the street and Tsuna frantically rounded from one corner to another as the calls for help continued to echo. _

'_Why is no one checking the streets!? The shouts is loud enough to wake up the dead!' Tsuna thought as rounded the final corner and his eyes locked on the three running figures a few meters in front of him. Another much larger figure was gaining up on them, sword held up high and ready to strike the kids._

"_Shit!" Tsuna muttered his first curse and began running towards the kids. He was no slouch when it comes to running since Reborn started his training regimen, the only thing that hindered his speed was his clumsiness._

_He was twenty meters away from the kids, when their attacker decided to swing his weapon down. Tsuna widened his eyes in alarm as he watch the sword swung in an arch. "Fuuta! Get down!"_

_The brunet's voice was loud and filled with desperation, he held back his relief when the three followed his warning and barely dodged the blade, without a pause the attacker readied for another swing._

_Tsuna didn't know what happened but in a blink of an eye, he threw his right shoe at the the attacker, the brunet was still comprehending how did he manage to do that, while watching his sneaker sailed in the air and landed right on the head of the attacker. 'Huh... It seems lady of luck granted me some of her blessing...'_

_Meanwhile, his tutor only rose an eyebrow his student. He was clutching Leon on his hand ready to shoot the attacker at moments notice but his student's action had stopped him from doing so. Granted that the hit distracted the assailant, however it seems that his partner was not._

_Up in the air was another black clad attacker, sword high up and ready bring the weapon down towards the kids. _

_Tsuna's shout died in his throat when a sudden barrage of needles embedded itself at the airborne assailant, knocking him out cold as he landed in a heap on the cement. Not a second later the distracted assailant was attacked by multiple slashes of claws. The brunet stopped for a second when he saw who saved the kids. _

_It was Joshima Ken and Kakimoto Chikusa, both of them clad in their Kokuyo uniform._

"_Tsuna-nii!" Fuuta shouted in relief as he ran towards his older brother figure, he was soon followed by a teary eyed Ipin and bawling Lambo._

_Tsuna slowed down his ran and jogged towards the frantic children. He was a few meters away from them when a sudden ring in his mind urged him to hurry. He didn't ponder this phenomena when he saw another assailant landing behind Lambo who was unaware at the peril. Without a second thought, Tsuna leaped towards the cow attired boy and hugged the surprised toddler. The brunet curled up around Lambo, his back exposed at the nearing blade._

_The Vongola heir expected a searing pain of the sword entering his body, but what he didn't expect was a clang of metal and followed by a gunshot. He dared take a look and saw an unfamiliar figure before him. The first thing he saw was the trident that was so eerily familiar, along with the aura of dread._

"_Mokuro?" Was the first thought, but he easily batted that aside when the person turned around and he was met with large violet eyes and a very obvious feminine figure._

"_No. My name is Dokuro Chrome... Nice to meet you Boss." The girl replied._

_Flashback End._

* * *

It was sorted out in the end with some vague explanation from Reborn and the chaos that was soon followed by the entrance of Gokudera, Yamamoto and Ryohei who were thankfully stopped from confronting the Kokuyo group by the arrival of the CEDEF. The announcement of the Ring Battles had made both the gang and the Kokuyo group put a temporary alliance. Tsuna was just thankful that he didn't became the referee for another argument.

"Aa." Reborn agreed, seemingly ignoring the spaced out look of his student.

"Oh, I stand corrected." Mammon said as he turned around. "Very well then, I'm going to use this to my heart's content."

Without another word chains dropped under the cloak and the unmoved frog on top of his head began to crack like a newborn egg, seconds later a reptile emerged from the cracks and began to hover above the hooded toddler's head. The snake like creature bit rear end representing the Ouroboros. As the final link in the chain dropped on the floor, both Colonello and Reborn's pacifier glowed.

"So he's still alive...kora." Colonello muttered as he saw the indigo glow of the hooded toddler's pacifier.

"It's confirmed then. That chibi's true identity was the Arcobaleno Viper, holder of the indigo pacifier and well known for his psychic abilities." Reborn added blankly.

"Psychic!? You mean an ESP?" Gokudera asked, a glint in his eye told his curiosity of the revealed Arcobaleno.

The silver head's question went unanswered as Reborn and Colonello focused their attention at the now floating chibi.

"I haven't questioned it yet, but why did our pacifiers didn't glow when we first met him? Kora" Colonello asked as he rubbed the orb hanging on his neck.

"I think it has to do with the chain that wrapped the pacifier, it seems to have sealed the power of the pacifier." Reborn replied.

Ino took notice of that and decided to get some sample of those chains, although she might need some plan...

"Haku, your position?" Ino softly asked as she pressed her communicator.

"Five o'clock on Varia's position, at about seven feet." Haku's soft voice replied.

Ino locked her eyes on the position of her invisible partner and measured the distance between him and the discarded chains. It was fortunate that the chain was about fifteen feet away from his supposed position that would be a short jump despite the length.

"Very well, I need you to get that discarded chain. I overheard the Arcobaleno that it can seal the presence of their flames..." Ino said.

"Roger." Haku replied.

"Use the illusions for a cover." Ino added, getting another affirmative.

"Oi, oi!" Gokudera asked startling some of his friends. "If he's an Arcobaleno then won't Chrome have a hard time against him?"

"Now that you mentioned it..." Yamamoto added as he glanced at their Mist Guardian.

"I'm afraid that this will be disadvantageous for your guardian, kora." Colonello said, glancing at the stoic feature of the Sun Arcobaleno.

"Don't be quick to decide, Colonello. Dokuro is more than an average illusionist." Reborn countered.

Chrome seemed to agree as she put up a determined face. "No matter who you are. I. Will. Not. Lose!"

With that Chrome attacked, swinging her trident towards the floating chibi. The game of cat and mouse continued, until the indigo haired girl had enough and summoned snakes out of nowhere and entangled them towards her enemy.

"That's the state of the beast!" Tsuna helpfully informed.

'No seals?' Ino asked no one, she began to compare the snake summoned by the Vongola Mist Guardian and the summons of her superior Anko. She realized that the illusionist's summon are only regular snakes, while those of Anko's has some semblance of intelligence, but Ino would admit that summoning snakes on the lieu has can be very good when it come to distractions.

"Hn, so this in not a mere illusion." Mammon idly commented as the enormous snake began coiling around his body.

It seems to work as the toddler slowly fell landed on the floor, the Vongola group was awed at the strength but their admiration quickly fell into surprise as the Arcobaleno suddenly gave out a burst of energy flinging the flailing reptiles around the gym.

Tsuna was unlucky when one of the larger than average snake landed on him and began to coil itself on his arm.

"HIIEEEE! Get it off! Get it off!" Tsuna shrieked as waved his arm, the brunet was so panicked that he didn't noticed that the snake had reared up his head preparing to strike the unprotected neck.

Tsuna froze when he saw the incoming bite and just centimeters away from his jugular an arm snapped in front of him and grabbed the head in the most harmless way. The brunet robotically turned his head and found out that Yamamoto was the one who saved him.

Although despite the head being held, it was not the same for it's body. The coiling muscles of the snake tightened and Tsuna bit back a shout as he felt his arm was beginning to feel numb.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera shouted in alarm as he found that his Juudaime being wrapped up by a giant snake.

Gokudera, with the help of Ryohei manage to wrestle the snake from their boss' arm while Yamamoto holds the head. The two Arcobaleno watched the chaos with an amused smile, finding the teens struggle to be quite entertaining, how couldn't they? When the brunette was shrieking like a girl, the raven seemingly petting the phone size head of the snake and the two silver heads was in a shouting match, one of extreme and the other a vocabulary fit sailors.

The boys' relief at their victory against the snake was cut short when columns of lava burst out of the floor. Tsuna, Gokudera, Ryohei, Basil and Yamamoto scrambled at asafe distance away from the fiery columns as they began to feel the heat from it. They know that it was an illusion but their senses refused to accept it.

Suddenly Mammon came bursting out of one of the columns, unharmed by the heat and not even a scorch in his attire.

"Your illusions are indeed first class..." Mammon praised. "If one would believed that those columns of fire are real then they will burn themselves..."

"However... If one castor has a much stronger illusion." The floating toddler began as his hooded face gave out a glow. "Then the weak one will shatter!"

With a single blue flash all of the fiery columns froze and shattered into million pieces, creating a snow like cover in the gym.

Ino was alarmed at the sudden event. Their technique _can _give them invisibility, the seals _can_ make their presence disappear but they don't have anything that will make them _intangible!_ Without further ado she ran on the walls and stuck herself on the ceiling and waited for the next course of action.

"Haku, what's your situation?" Ino asked as she scanned the floor noting the last postion of her partner and gave out a sigh as she notice the lack of footprints near the Varia.

"Ceiling of the stage." Haku replied promptly.

"Did you manage to get the chains?" Ino asked, the fire column was enough to be a distraction.

"Negative." Haku answered. "The boss of the Varia squad kept a peripheral of the chains, although I think I can get it now since the floor is covered in snow."

"Make sure you leave no trace." Ino asked as she observed the fight below.

"Roger." Haku replied.

The feminine male spy grabbed his customized senbon and attached it into a reinforced metal wire he wasn't worried of the light reflecting from his weapons since he applied some non-reflecting coat, a standard preparation in their village. Haku, despite holding two invisible things has no trouble tying the string at an end of the unseen needle, he made this procedure a thousand times that it seems that it was a second nature to him.

He made a mental mark and aimed his senbon at the middle of the links, with a swift throw the weapon embedded itself right between the two links and with a slight adjustment in the wire, the senbon touched the chains, he needed some form of contact with the chains for his next move. With a single hand sign, Haku trailed his technique into the wire and it transferred to the senbon. Seconds later snow began to grow on the chains like a moss until it covered all of the chains, he gave an experimental tug and smiled when the snow was hard enough to attach to the senbon. Haku reapplied the camouflage and now the snow covered chains is invisible under the white illusion.

'Time for the waiting game...' Haku thought as he watched the battle, he only need one more distraction to pull the chains under the snow illusion and get the chains out of the battle.

"The art of illusion seizes the control of the 5 senses, the stronger the illusion the stronger the control, and thus the more successful you will be in battle and infiltrations." Mammon lectured.

Ino subtly nodded, agreeing at the words of the Arcobaleno. Despite having different techniques when it come to illusions, it is and will always be the goal of an illusionist, and that is to deceive.

"However, when the illusion of an illusionist was countered by a stronger illusion. It means that their of their own perception is snatched away." Mammon added as the fallen snow stuck on the clothes of the indigo haired girl began to multiply at a rapid rate and continued to spread until it covered her limbs.

Chrome began to panic as the snow spread to her body and began to crystallize into ice, her fingers numb from the sudden cold began to loosen her hold on her trident and when she realized it she strengthened her hold and gripped her weapon tightly. With a renewed vigor she pulled through the illusion and slammed the butt into the now thick ice, she made a crack but the ice was already too hard.

"Oho... What did I see there?" Mammon mumbled as he closed in with the girl.

The indigo haired girl tightened her hold into a vice-like grip, an action that piqued the interest of her opponent.

"It seems, that weapon of yours hold some value?" The floating toddler closed in, enjoying the fear beginning to appear on the girl's features.

"Dont!-" Chrome leaned back, trying to escape but to no avail, she was firmly stuck in an ice.

"Ah... You just answered my question..." The toddler muttered, his pacifier began to glow, adding panic to the girl before him.

"DON'T!-" Chrome shouted, eliciting worried glances from her side.

"This is bad..." Reborn grimly stated, eyes hidden beneath his hat.

Slowly crystal patterns appeared on the trident, eerily reminiscent of snowflakes. It soon began to spread rapidly throughout the trident, slowly but surely cracks began to appear in on the trident, setting more panic towards its holder. It was a slow progress, chip by chip, the flaking ice of a trident began to fall. By the time that the half bottom part of the trident was gone Chrome a crying mess, she tried to mend the weapon but she was too stressed to even think of anything but the broken trident before her.

"No...-No..nononono..." Chrome repeatedly chanted as desperately gathered the chipped pieces in her hand.

The Varia watched the pitiful scene with indifference, while half of the Vongola group turned their heads away, only the two Arcobaleno, Chikusa and surprisingly Tsuna continued to look at.

The Vongola Heir watch the scene with a stony expression, nails digging in his palms nearly drawing out blood. Tsuna wanted to stop this! This is too cruel no one deserved to be treated like this. The brunet watched as only the three prongs of the trident was left. Chrome held it in her chest like a lifeline, eyes already red from crying. Tsuna closed his eyes and held his breath, the image flashed into his mind and saw something he didn't notice before.

'W-was that b-blood?' He thought and to confirm his thought he opened his eyes again saw blood flowing like tears at the edge of Chrome's lip.

"That's enough..." He whispered, eyes shadowed by his hair Tsuna would only speak one name. "Reborn..."

Without a word, Reborn flicked a blue pill towards his student. He wanted to shoot that bastard of a Arcobaleno to the pits of hell but he was held back by the orders, if not his complete trust to his dame of a student, then to hell with those orders! However as much as he like to do do that, Chrome's health was their priority, payback can wait.

Tsuna deftly caught the pill, he took out his mittens and took one last look at the now helpless Chrome, only one of the prongs was left. He was frozen in shock when the stomach of the girl before him collapsed as soon as the last chip of the trident fell from her hands. It was gruesome scene, blood was coughed out in large amount as the girl heaved uncontrollably, and with no innards to support her weight she was slowly leaning back.

"What...?" Tsuna numbly asked.

There is one major crisis that everyone was now realizing, with the girl's lower body frozen solid on the ground and a heavy upper body, add to the equation of an unsupported spine, only one was insane enough the state the gruesome end.

"She's going to snap!" Belphegor madly cackled, getting the attention of the Vongola group who looked away.

As they turned around they could only see their Mist Guardian slowly leaning back and as if in slow motion they can only watch in sickeningly fashion as the girl continued to leaned back into an unimaginable degree.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"Ino! Permission to intervene!" Haku whispered fiercely hands already in formed in a seal.

"Proceed!" Ino replied quickly as much.

No matter what they learned in the past, or how they will make their future. There is only one thing that echoed in their minds... _**Live without Regrets! Let the Will of Fire shine upon you!**_

With a flurry of hand signs Haku dropped and silently stuck himself into the wall a feet a above the floor ,with the last hand seal he slammed his hands into the snow illusion and spread his attack. He watch with a critical eye as snow began to clump into a small hill, he added more energy into his snow and it continue to grow in size and speed until it cushioned the now half conscious Chrome.

"...Thirty degrees..." Ino called. "Five less and her spine will definitely crack.."

Haku nodded mutely as continued to add more volume to the snow hill until Chrome's back was only leaning at about 70 degrees from the horizontal. Haku paused as he took a look at the indigo haired girl, she was breathing rather haggardly but at least she was not coughing out any blood. Without a noise Haku returned to his perch and returned to observing the aftermath. Luckily with all the eyes on his snow hill, he mange to get the frozen chain without anyone noticing.

"What the heck happened!?" Gokudera was the one who broke the rather eerie silence.

"Trash! What did you do!?" Xanxus shouted in his throne, his eyes still held the perpetual glare but with a hint of confusion.

"I didn't do anything Boss!" Mammon replied, he saw it with his own eyes, and it was no illusion either.

With a silent glow of his pacifier he canceled his snow illusion, and everyone's eyes locked in a bridge snow lying in perfect camouflage with the Arcobaleno's illusion snow.

It started from a seemingly random area of the floor and spreading fifteen feet until it reached the snowy hill that had suddenly grown out of nowhere.

Everybody was so focused at the sudden mystery appearance of the snowy hill that nobody noticed the mist that suddenly engulfed the now unconscious Chrome. The mist slowly spread until the lights had dimmed from it's sheer density.

"**Kufufufufu..."**

A light baritone laugh echoed in gymnasium.

"**Kufufufufu..."**

"He's here..." Tsuna said as his eyes darted in the mist, trying see the impossible.

"Who Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked, half knowing the identity of the person.

"Mukuro." The brunet replied as he clutched the pill with his mittened hand.

"**Oya, oya... Who's the scumbag who took pleasure in seeing my sweet little Chrome suffer?"**

The echoing voiced asked, a blood red eye opened in the darkened mist, its kanji number six was eerily glowing as it stared at the Arcobaleno of the Indigo Pacifier.

* * *

**A/N: Ten thousand freaking Words! This earns me a really hard pat in the back, for being a stupid procrastinator as well as for finishing this story! **

**Good news to every one! Since the upcoming Ten Year Arc will be closing in the next few chapters, I'm open for the pairing suggestions! Although this would only be as a side focus of the plot such as developing relationships, friendships, etc. You can pair any characters from both worlds so I wanna see some good pairing and just in case you want to share some ideas on how they will develop you can PM me or just drop your PAIRING AND REASON -must be legit- in that giant box ever there... well just to be clear I'm gonna write some guidelines.**

**Type: Hetero &amp; Yaoi (I don't have any great reads with Yuri, BUT if you put good enough reason then I might add that pairing of yours)**

**Couple:**

**Reason:(Well I might agree if we luckily have the same liking for a pairing, but seriously have a more constructive reason for your pairing.)**

**How will they become a 'thing': (so to speak, how will they develop, humor, tragedy, fight etc. If it's good I might put an Omake :)**

**And lastly, Thank you for those who followed and put me on their favorite list, I'm definitely keep a close eye on this story. Don't forget to comment, give ideas, critiques and what not. See yah next time!**


	8. Revelation Behind the Mist

**A/N: I am so sorry for the short chapter. I ran into a bit of writer's block on the way. Anyway please read the author's note at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or KHR.**

* * *

**Namimori Gymnasium: 2036**

Ino watched in curiosity as the mist covering the area began to dissipate, in the place where the fallen Mist Guardian of Vongola, Chrome, had once laid stood a lone figure.

Standing at five feet and nine inches, was Rokudo Mukuro, dressed in a style that he previously wore on his last battle with the Vongola heir. She watched in bated breath as the indigo haired convict spared a glance at the mount of ice behind him and the bridge of melted water that ran across the floor. The blonde haired spy must have been blinded by the dense mist since the convict suddenly swept his gaze at the general area where Haku is hiding. Heterochromatic eyes continued his gaze around the gym seemingly looking for something.

'Interesting...' Ino thought, as she watched the newly appeared guardian silently clicked his tongue and returned his gaze to his confused opponent, eyes set on a cold glare.

Ino blinked when she felt another much more stronger displacement in the air as Mukuro slammed the but of his trident of the floor, and similar his female counterpart the illusion of jagged rocks burst out of the floor and hit the unsuspecting Arcobaleno.

"Kufufufu... You have a lot of nerve to do that to my vessel..." Mukuro said as he last bit of mist disappeared. His sudden appearance gained confused looks from the Varia and some of the Vongola Guardians who were not there during the Kokuyo battle.

"It's been a while, Vongola." The convict smirked as he saw the battle ready stance the brunet took, seconds before his appearance, he reserved a small trust towards the Vongola heir since the CEDEF gave them deal, despite his hatred for Mafia the brunet manage to struck a chord in his conscience from their last encounter.

Mukuro only received a nod in acknowledgment, inwardly surprising the convict from the lack of aggression, he eyed the brunet's companions and raised an eyebrow at the glares they hold, though what confused him was it was not directed at him, but the person beside him, namely the Mist Arcobaleno.

"Tell me boy," Mammon said as he recovered from the sudden attack. "What is your name?"

"Oya, It seems my infamy has lessened since my capture." Mukuro replied in nonchalance, not willing to answer the chibi.

"Not giving an answer... Are we?" The Arcobaleno asked, only receiving a smirk in reply. "Tch. What a troublesome guy." the floating chibi stated.

"Very well, let's clear things up..." Mammon said as he began to float higher. "You, are a mere illusion of that girl, right?" The baby added confidently, as his pacifier glowed and sudden gust of wind began to circumvent around the gym, the temperature began to lower and nearly all occupants in the place began to shiver in the cold.

"C-c-cold!" Tsuna asked as his anger was literally tempered down by the sudden cold.

"It's a blizzard!" Basil exclaimed, as he shield his face the the sudden onslaught of snow that began to form second ago.

"We're extremely going to freeze to death!" Ryohei shouted as he too shield his face.

Ino gave out a small shiver as the rapid lowering of the temperature was affecting her, despite of her canceling the illusion on her sense of touch. She gave out a irritated look at her invisible partner, fully knowing that the feminine boy was having a field day. She ignored the cold and looked at sudden formation of ice on the convict's feet, giving a sense of deja vu to most of the crowd. She rose an eyebrow when the indigo haired teen did not move and only smirked at the illusion.

The crowd watch as the ice continue to move upwards until the whole figure of Mokuro was covered, and despite his immobility the convict still has the smirk placed on his lips.

"I'm not so good natured that I would be fooled by an illusion." Mammon stated as he created an illusion of hammer before his hood. Literally making a hammerhead of an attack. "And if I'll smash you to pieces, then the body of that girl before will appear."

However, a feet before the Arcobaleno can hit the frozen convict, a sudden eruption of a plant engulfed the unsuspecting chibi, entangling him until he is immobile.

"What is this!?" Mammon shouted as he began to struggle. 'Lotus flowers?' he asked himself as the flower bloomed.

"Kufufufu..." The laugh of his opponent was eerily not muffled by the ice he made, seemingly in a blink of an eye, the ice the indigo haired teen encased in was evaporated.

The strangled illusionist bit back a pained shout as the vines tightened their hold. 'The pain... -this power! What is this?' He thought as he continue to struggle.

"Just who is an illusion?" Mukuro casually asked, as he walked towards the Arcobaleno.

'This is another level of illusion...' Ino commented silently impressed at the skill, she already knew the outcome of the battle. The convict's illusion has a stronger hold in her senses, and in effect all the senses of the occupants in the gym.

"Come on Arcobaleno." the indigo haired taunted. "What's the matter Arcobaleno? If that is all you can do, then going to wrap things up you know?"

"Nuu...!" Mammon grunted in effort as his pacifier glowed, and with another burst of his energy he finally manage to escape the vines. "Don't get so cocky!"

Fueled by anger, the Arcobaleno floated higher and in a burst of light he multiplied, floating towards the smirking Vongola Guardian.

"Kufufufu... Pathetic!" Mukuro insulted as his right eye glowed in blue flames. With a swift swings of his trident, he effectively destroyed the clone illusions.

'Path of Ashura...' Ino thought, she read the reports regarding Rokudo Mukuro and she reserved her thoughts about his skill. Now that she saw his illusion, Ino was impressed to say at least. 'Although he needs some polishing on his presentation, his eye however will give out his skill the moment the kanji change... Speaking of eye, would his be considered as an ocular technique?'

The blonde spy was knocked out of her thoughts as the Arcobaleno screamed in aghast.

"Heresy! Heresy I say! No illusionist would renounce to such archaic fight! I denounce your right as an illusionist and your reincarnation cycle of rubbish!" Mammon screeched.

'Tch... Traditionalist...' Ino thought darkly, she hated those type of people who thought that only one skill would bring them to a higher platform. After all a specialized soldier is a dead soldier, a lesson that was beaten into their minds. Now, nearly all of the generation after their Village's'disappearance' needs to have at least a well rounded set of skill not fewer than five.

"Oh?" Mukuro only raised an eyebrow, inwardly insulted at the notion.

"Humans will repeat the same life many times in infinite cycles!" Mammon argued. "That's why I must keep hoarding my money!"

An with that final statement, the indigo pacifier glowed and in an act of dizzying events, the floor swirled and began to twist into the a space. Nauseating the Vongola teens as their senses continued to be tricked by the powerful illusion, even the Varia was not spared as some of them tried to balance their footing at the irregular shaped floor.

"Viper is not holding back...kora" Collonello muttered as his eagle carried him, along with Reborn who was idly hanging beneath the blond.

"He has no choice." Reborn replied as he watched the unfolding event.

"Kufufu... What a greedy Arcobaleno!" Mukuko said in glee. "Interesting... However when it come to greed, I won't lose either." He held his trident horizontally and in a sudden turn of events columns of water burst from the spiraling floor boards, creating a vortex of disaster.

"Hiiiee!" Tsuna exclaimed as he held his head and closed his eyes, willing to stop the dizzying illusion.

"I'm going to throw up!" Gokudera exclaimed as he covered his mouth, his face nearly green from the effort.

"Ugh... This is not good..." Yamamoto added as he tried to balance himself. His body was still upright, but despite his mind telling him that he was in fact still standing relatively balanced, his other senses was contradicting him.

"They're starting to get corrupted by the illusion, kora." Colonello said as he saw the pitying display from the Vongola teens. He glance at the Varia and saw them relatively distraught. 'At least they're in much better shape than the teens.'

"Aa, they might feel some after effects when the battle is done since the illusion affects the mind directly, not to mention that they have been exposed since the beginning." Reborn added, as glanced at his student noticing the worried glances of his friends.

Ino watched the vortex with a slight grimace, the illusion felt stronger now that the five senses began to contradict each other. She was tempted to release the hold over her but she want to watch it till the end. She felt a small release of energy and assumed that Haku released the illusion over him, lucky bastard.

"Muuh, such powerful illusion..." Mammon said as he dodged the columns of water, watching in fear as they began to crystallize into ice. "Where did you get this!?"

"From hell of course." Mukuro replied as he appeared right in front of the Arcobaleno.

"Stop talking rubbish!" The Arcobaleno would not admit it, but he was definitely losing his mind from the pressure. With another army of clone illusion he attacked.

Mukuro used his Ashura path, and spun his trident effectively blocking the incoming chibi and destroying them all the while. He was taken by surprise when a much smaller clone got through and in a blink of an eye covered him.

"Mokuro!" Tsuna shouted, as he snapped out from his mind. He saw the large nearly liquefied bubble wrapping the convict and in a sudden move the frog like reptile grew spikes and impaled the bubble.

Silence took over the vortex as the two fighting sides waited the outcome in a bated breath.

"Impossible!" A shout echoed, easily recognizable as the Mist Arcobaleno's voice.

Without a prompt the impaled bubble exploded in an array of disrepair and in the middle of it stood Mukuro protected by his lotus flower, he was smirking in victory as he held the two pieces of the mist ring between his fingers, Mammon no where in sight.

Silence has once again prevailed in the vortex as the two groups still processed the information before him.

"He won!" Ken shouted in glee, breaking the stupor of the crowd.

"Impossible!" Belphegor shouted as his covered eyes searched for their illusionist.

"I just have to join the two rings, right?" Mukuro asked, and rose an eyebrow when he saw the two wobbling Cervellos appear in front of his sight.. He knew that they were in the illusions, but he was unaware of their location beforehand.

"Hai." One of the Cervello replied, clutching her head as her partner steadied their balance.

"NOT SO FAST!" A squeaky voice echoed.

Meters away from Mukuro's place a swirl of black dust gathered and slowly formed into the figure of a panting Mammon, sweat dripped from the visible cheeks.

"Don't get so cocky!" The Mist Arcobaleno shouted. "I was just playing with you... haa...I have yet to show you the full extent of my powers!"

Mukuro only stared at the tired chibi with a blank look. "You know this very, don't you?" He said after moments of contemplation.

"Know what?" Mammon asked as he suddenly found himself standing parallel from the convict's position, the vortex still skewing the landscape.

"The result when your illusion is countered by another..." Mukuro replied. "The moment where you're perceptions are completely controlled."

"Wha-?" The Varia illusionist did not have time to react when his familiar lowered itself from his head and leveled its height into his neckline, a second later the reptile reduced its size and began choking his master.

"Gah! Fantasma! Stop!"

Mukuro smirked as he saw the struggle, he remembered the pain Chrome experienced under the hands of the Arcobaleno and decided that he might play with the chibi a bit longer. After all, vengeance has a sweet taste after it was served cold.

"Kufufufu... You know, I haven't forgot what you did to my vessel..." Mukuro muttered softly, but it was clearly heard by the others.

The Vongola teens shivered at the dark undertone of their illusionist.

"Tell me, Arcobaleno. Did you enjoy her pain? Her pleads of mercy? Did you enjoy crumbling her world to pieces?" Mukuro asked, as the floor began to chip away eerily reminisce of the frozen trident Chrome held before she fell.

Mammon did not reply, much more busy panicking at the tightening of his familiar around his air way.

"I'll take the silence as a yes." Mukuro muttered, the floor began to chip away at a much faster rate and began to spiral into another vortex right under the feet off the Arcobaleno.

All occupants began to fall, screaming in alarm as they felt gravity pulling them deeper into the hole like vortex. Blocks of chipped vortex and other debris were continuously sucked in.

"Kufufufu, let's see how you like to see your world crumbling apart!" Mukuro laughed as he began to take his descent after the falling Arcobaleno.

Tsuna watched in alarm as he saw, the vortex entered Mammon's body. It began to bloat the chibi into unreal proportions, he watch in a grim fascination as the last bit entered the Varia illusionist. The voice at the back of his mind was telling him to stop the convict but a part of him keep reminding him about Chrome's torture under the chibi and the Arcobaleno deserved it. Guilt ridden his soul as he realized that he was agreeing at the latter. He shook his head out of his thoughts and returned watching the event.

The Arcobaleno, looked like an unproportioned pillow with a choker.

"W-what is h-happening?!" Mammon shouted in panic.

"You're losing..." Mukuro replied in a carefree manner.

"H-how...guah!"

"How? Kufufu... It's simple." Red eyes glowed as the pupil changed into a number six kanji. "The reason you lost, was because you have me as an opponent."

Mammon did not reply, he did not shout, he only burst into smoke as it covered the area.

All the occupants did not make a sound as the floating debris and floor returned to it's original form. The Vongola teens could only slack in relief as their senses returned to normal. Gokudera manage to reign in his urge to throw up, Yamamoto was testing his balance along with Ryohei, Basil was sitting on the floor along with Tsuna who continued to do a breathing exercise, and the two Arcobaleno were patiently waiting for the smoke to recede.

Meanwhile, most of the Varia was still in disbelief that their Arcobaleno was defeated and Xanxus was glaring at the place where the Vongola illusionist was standing, the scarred man was surprising still seated in his throne, a bit ruffled yet still maintaining his brisk appearance.

Ino watched the finale of the battle and as the last bits of the smoke disappeared, it revealed a kneeling Mukuro. 'I admit, he does have a flair for dramatics...' She thought as she eyed the opened window across her.

"Is this acceptable?" Mukuro asked after a moment of silence, showing the complete Vongola Mist ring on his finger.

The two Cervello girls, silently discussed and seconds later they announce the result.

"The mist ring now belong to Chrome Dokuro. With that, the Battle for the Mist Ring is won by her." One of the pink haired girl announced.

"Then Viper..." Colonello started as he was still unsure at the outcome of their fellow holder.

"Was ripped to pieces!" Belphegor laughed, as he flippantly disregarded their comrade. He held no personal connections with his dead comrade, if he was defeated by a no name illusionist then the Varia have no use for him.

Tsuna could only glare at the Varia. "How could you! He's your comrade!" He shouted at the opposing group. It's true that he might have a dislike towards the Mist Arcobaleno but at least they could show some respect. "And Mukuro you-"

"You're still showing sympathy for the enemy." The indigo haired illusionist cut off Tsuna's reprimand. "Just how naive can you get, Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"Mukuro..." Belphegor muttered.

"What is it?" Squalo asked as he heard his comrade mutter.

"I remember someone with that name in the data base." Belphegor muttered again, gaining the attention of their boss.

"What is it trash?" Xanxus demanded.

"There was a report that there was another attempted escape in Vindice a month ago, lead by Rokudo Mukuro, he was however caught at the last moment and was locked in the deepest part of the prison." The blond replied.

"Voi! Then what do you say about that!?" Squalo shouted as he pointed at the smirking illusionist across the room.

"Oya, oya. Talking behind my back?" Mukuro asked as he suddenly appeared behind the Varia.

In a swift motion all of the squad members drew their weapons and pointed it directly at the teen's throat.

"My, my. You really are the dark side of the Mafia aren't you, eh. Xanxus" The illusionist greeted casually.

The Vongola group was left in a confused state as they saw Varia suddenly surrounding the air, weapons pointing at a specific angle.

'An illusion?' Tsuna thought as he glanced at Mukuro, who was now chuckling eerily.

"Trash..." Xanxus muttered as he closed in the muzzle of his gun under the man's chin.

"Oya, oya, no need to be aggressive. As one of the people who despise Mafia, I must commend you at the terrifying scheme you have..." Mukuro said with a smirk.

Xanxus can only glare at the illusionist's reply. The man had somehow found his plan for the final battle, if that would leak that he would have no choice but kill him.

"But I have no intention of getting into your business, since I have my own ways..." The illusion replied, surprising the boss of the Varia. "However, I'll tell you one thing. Sawada Tsunayoshi, though smaller and weaker than you... Is not really someone you should trifle with, for your own good."

With his piece done, the illusion disappeared, flabbergasting the squad that they were fooled by an illusion. Xanxus could only glare at the laughing illusionist across the room. With a lest sneer towards the illusionist he got up from his throne and left his squad with the rest.

"Mukuro-" Tsuna started as the teen walked towards them,but was cut off again by the tall illusionist.

"Do not worry about the Arcobaleno, Vongola. He escaped a second before he burst. He was a shrewd one I'll give you that." Mukuro said as he glanced at the opened window on the balcony.

"Mukuro-sama!" Chikusa greeted as he walked towards their boss.

"Incredible you kicked his ass!" Ken shouted enthusiastically as he followed his friend.

"Kufufufu, I'll clarify something, now that I meet you face to face, Vongola." Mukuro announced. "The reason why I accepted the position of the Mist Guardian is to set myself is a better position to possess your body Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"You bastard!" Gokudera zealously shouted as he pulled out his dynamites.

"Gokudera-kun! Stop!" Tsuna grabbed his friend's arm and manage to calm down the bomber. Despite the words the illusionist said to him, the brunet doubted that it was the truth, he somehow felt that the convict was lying.

"In any case... Thank you." Tsuna said and gave a nervous smile.

Mukuro only nodded and glanced at the two chibis. "Arcobaleno, you need keep a better eye on your charge." He said in vague way, he did not saw the darkened reaction of the hitman, since not a second later he lost consciousness.

"Mukuro!" Tsuna only manage to run halfway, and saw the figure slowly turn back to Chrome, stopping the brunet from his tracks.

The girl soundlessly landed on the floor, in a fetus position. The males paused as they looked at the fallen teen until a soft snore came out of the female illusionist.

"She's extremely sleeping!" Ryohei announced.

"What about her organs?" Tsuna asked.

"They're fully functional." Reborn announced as he examined the girl. "Mukuro's illusion took over it.

"Tch, She gets tired easily for a human." Ken muttered as they began to walk towards the exit.

"Let's go." Chikusa added.

"Wait you're abandoning her!?" Tsuna exclaimed feeling indignant at the actions of the two males.

"She can walk home after she wakes up right?" Chikusa said in monotone.

"Yeah, we're not baby-sitters. Besides she's not really Mukuro-sama." Ken added.

'That doesn't mean that it's alright to abandon her!' Tsuna though furiously, this was only the third time he met those two and he would never understand the workings of their mind. 'And they're right about Mukuro... He's still under that prison.' Tsuna added silently.

Tsuna remembered the memories of that he saw during the fight. The escape of of the three convicts, only to be caught again. Mukuro's sacrifice for the safety of the two. The illusionist's struggle under the prison. His rescue towards Chrome's survival and the deal with the CEDEF. Tsuna was still conflicted about the last part, his father has a major involvement in the Mist guardian's entrance, and he was still unsure about what to do.

"Don't sympathize with him." Reborn stated, he knew that something happened during the battle and the brunet's reaction towards the convict's words proved that something did happen. "Don't ever forget what he did to you."

Tsuna did not answer and contemplated the words of his tutor. 'Of course I won't forget. But that doesn't mean I won't forgive him. It won't be right if he would be left like that...'

"Tomorrow's battle would be the Battle for the Cloud Guardian." The Cervello announced.

"It's Hibari's turn..." Gokudera muttered, as he watched the Mosca released a steam

"We're at an advantage by one point..." Reborn stated

"This would be an easy fight!" Yamamoto cheerily said.

"VOI! Don't be cocky you brats!" Squalo shouted with a gleeful face, he knew about the scheme for tomorrow's battle, one way or another the Vongola rings would be theirs in the end. "Gola Mosca is not an easy opponent to battle with. You might as well just prepare for the Sky Battle!"

The silver haired man replied and walked out of the gym. His last sentence has too much confidence to be just a taunt for the group.

Reborn could only watch the exiting group with a blank stare, there is something he's missing here... He would need to investigate this one further.

Tsuna shook his head in dismay as he watched Ken and Chikusa leave the premises, he looked back at Chrome and caught the small shivers the girl is making. With a sigh he shrugged off his jacket and covered her, smiling a little as the girl snuggled deeper for warmth.

"You did a great job Chrome."

* * *

**Namimori Gymnasium: 2123**

Haku silently watched as the last group left the building, Ino had followed the Vongola group, while he sent a clone to watch the Varia. He, on the other hand was left to patrol the school premises until the repairs is completed by the Cervello.

The Mist Battle, despite their outlandish attacks, did well for an entertainment. He bit back a laugh as he remembered the humorous actions the crowd did at the last part of the fight. Who knew that a person under an illusion can react so comically? The Vongola teens had shouted and scrambled along the floor seemingly dizzy and nauseated, while the Varia had stumbled on the floor, and even the two Cervello had acted like two drunk women by their movements. The illusionists however must have a very unique perspective when it come to their attacks, Haku thought idly, as noted that the two mist flame users had only stood on the floor, floated/ran around the court and did nothing but wave their weapons and shout some insults. Granted that the fight with illusion must be a sight to behold, however he was just content to be out of the illusion's control and enjoy the unseen chaos.

He broke out his thoughts as the repair team announced their finished work, and had asked the Cervello what would they do to the mound of snow.

"Just leave it there, it would evaporate during the night." One the pink hair women replied, as the repair team exited the gym.

One-by-one they switched off the lights, until the gymnasium was bathed in darkness. With a silent sigh, Haku dropped off from the ceiling and landed soundlessly on the stage. He should do something about his snow, seeing that it would leave traces of his energy under that pile. With a single hand sign, the snow evaporated at a fast rate, it was a simple control over the temperature of the snow. By bringing up the temperature of the snow using friction, the frozen crystals will evaporate and after that it was only a matter of controlling the 'mist'.

Haku centered his breathing as he compressed the mist into a sphere shape, and began lowering the temperature again. He watched as the mist began to form into liquid and began to freeze, the sphere was still two basketballs in diameter. Noting that it would not fit his pocket, Haku continued to compress it until it was only the size of a baseball. Minutes later the sphere had frozen over completely, some would mistake it as a glass due it's crystal clear quality. But none would thought, that on his hand was a ticking time bomb.

It was a simple question that his team mate had once asked: 'What would happen if you manage to compress the density of the rock, say a boulder into a five inch sphere?' the result would be a nearly indestructible ball. But what if you change the boulder into a pond, and the five inch sphere into a crystal ball? Using the free-flowing principle of liquids, its compression capabilities, add some control in temperature and a very meticulous application of their energy. Then the end result would be a very destructive water bomb. Although, Haku rarely used this technique since the Hidden Villages were in a somewhat peaceful era.

Haku hid the crystal ball in one of his sleeves, just in time to hear the silent foot falls of a person just outside the gym. He quietly walked against the wall and watched as the door opened, revealing a disgruntled Sun Arcobaleno. The feminine boy can only watch in amusement as the hitman looked at the space where his snow had once been sitting.

* * *

Reborn paused as he stood before the door of the gym, he had left his dame-student after he hit the hay and returned to the gym for some more investigation. However, he was surprised at what he is seeing, or what he is not seeing.

Where the heck did the pile of snow disappeared?

He was getting irritated at the mysteries that were beginning to pop out of the Ring Battles, first there was the eyes that keeps warning the Vongola Intuition, second was the sudden appearance of the snow during the Mist battle and lastly the vague warning of Mukuro. All of those are pointing to a very obvious answer, someone is spying on them. And the only one that he suspects are the exchange students. The problem, is he already checked their backgrounds and all were cleared from any false information, not to mention that their arrival didn't match Tsuna's first time his intuition act up.

However, that doesn't mean that they are out of his radar. Living as a hitman for more than half of his life can give you paranoia that will make you suspicious to even the most innocent person in a room.

He took a full minute to gather his thoughts, and decided to look at the cameras he stationed in the gym. Closing the door, Reborn swiftly went to one of his hideout.

.

.

.

.

*click*...*click*...*click*...*click*

Onyx eyes, darted from screen to screen as he looked at the recent video records inside the gym. Having only six cameras he installed in the gym, he was not happy at what he realized. Holes, so many holes in his cameras. The first four cameras was positioned in the corners of the gym and the last two are placed on the two entrance. He didn't see anyone aside from the Varia, Cervello and his group enter the premises.

However, he did see the formation of the ice, during the fight, despite the low definition of the video. Unlike the five human sense, electronic cameras cannot be affected by illusions, thus the record only shows the physical battle.

He sped up the feeds and watched the recordings after the battle. Reborn watched with a critical eye as the snow melted into mist and formed into a sphere, until it was compressed into baseball sized crystal liquid. The hitman noted the small details of cold mist coating the crystal ball until it suddenly disappeared, just seconds before he entered the gym.

Reborn repeated the recording and it unnerved him that he didn't found any clues, even looking at the closest camera stationed near the snow did not show any signs. Giving out a last review he paused the recording slide by slide. He paused moments before the snow appeared and looked intently at the origin of the snow, he clicked the play button. Reborn watched, and without any warning the snow appeared seemingly out of the blue. It frustrated him to no ends.

'This is getting me nowhere...' he thought, the toddler looked at the clock and saw that it was already passed one. 'I might as well get some espresso...'

The Sun Arcobaleno, continued to review the recordings of the Mist Battle and decided to watch it from the beginning until the end. He continued to watch the recording until he nearly memorized the whole battle. It was only at break of dawn that he found another breakthrough.

"What the..."

* * *

**Kakashi's Apartment: 2304**

A soft knock echoed in the silent room, as its occupant startled into consciousness.

Giving out a soft groan, Kakashi pulled off his covers as he groggily walked towards the window. He craned his neck towards his clock and noted the time 11:04.

'Of all the nights that I found myself sleeping early...' He thought tiredly, giving out a sigh, he spared a look on his attire deeming that a pair of black jogging pants and navy blue muscle shirt is presentable enough, given his situation. He paused a meter from the window and turned back to his bed, he grabbed his facemask and quickly wore it. He walked towards the window and made way to the two black clad individuals

"Report?" Kakashi asked as he bit back a yawn.

One of the individual took off his head cover, revealing Yamanaka Ino, the other followed suit and revealed Haku. The two teens glanced at each other, and communicated silently. With a nod, Ino started her report, starting from their infiltration. She was well into the middle of the battle when Kakashi interrupted her monologue.

"What do you mean intervene?" Kakashi asked, a hard edge in his tone.

"Given the circumstance of the Vongola Mist Guardian, we have thought of the best action to take course." Ino replied in an even tone. That was only for outside appearance, however inside she was sweating bullets.

Despite his lazy, nonchalant attitude, Hatake Kakashi was a very feared man. A genius at birth, he rose high into the ranks continually until he reached the top rank at the age of twelve. He was recruited to the Special Assassination Squad, or Anbu specifically, not a year later. At the age of fifteen, he was promoted to the position of captain, increasing the fame of their clan.

"Did you considered the consequence of your actions?" Kakashi asked after a moment of silence. "You have risked the exposure of yourselves, as well as your comrades." His voice was flat, yet the scolding tone underneath made the two younger members wince.

Kakashi eyed the two before him, he has experience with these kinds of mistakes with the teams assigned to him beforehand, and it was easily remedied by a knock in the head or a very convincing counter-argument. However, if a team made a mistake, it would always return to the leader, since he/she was the one to call the shots. This time part of the mistake was his, because he was the one who assigned the two to watch the battle this time.

"I trust that you have a valid reason for your actions, otherwise you're going to be assigned to patrolling...only." Kakashi continued, getting another wince from the two teens. Not that patrolling was bad, but the act of having your assignments cut off was very similar to being demoted.

"Sir." Haku began, taking it extra careful to add some respect. "The vessel of the Mist Guardian is, in technical, still a civilian, and in one of our codes of conduct states that: 'Civilians of all races should not come into any harm, if he or she is under the presence of-"

"Spare me the rules, please." Kakashi cut off the feminine boy. "I already know all of them. What I want to know is that _why_ did you two decide to intervene?" He pressed the question.

"Because, it was the right thing to do." Ino answered in a firm voice. "We were trained to kill, and we killed. But we are also taught to protect, to choose what is right given the situation, and to commit an error if the consequences will result to an advantage."

"But the question Yamanaka-san, is: Did you choose the right thing, or did you commit an error? After all, those choices has distinct line that separates them..." Kakashi countered, he let the question sink in, giving doubt to the blonde's answer.

A moment of silent contemplation hung around the two teens, and Kakashi took a glance at his clock. '11:58... Nearly one hour...'

"Proceed with the report." Kakashi said, snapping the two out of their thoughts. "I'll deliberate your actions in the next twenty four hours, for now you are 'off the hook', so to speak." He added, getting relieved reactions from the two. "Although, keep it mind that this will only be in effect during the given time."

"Yes, sir." Haku and Ino replied stiffly.

"Now, let's continue where we left off." Kakashi reminded. The next half of the report was given by Haku, his partner had added her input about the Mist Guardian and the time the two finalized their report, the clock had reached one-thirty.

"Dismissed..." the silver haired teen, stated as Haku and Ino gave a salute and burst into a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi yawned and closed the window, he took off his face mask and threw it on his bed. His lone silver eye gaze longily at the soft mattress, giving out another sigh he redirected his gaze on the chains clutched in his hands.

'Ugh... So much for sleep...'

* * *

**A/N: Ehehe, again sorry for the short chapter, anyway I was planning on taking to my ten thousand word mark, but I guess the supprt was not enought to encourage me on adding more. But I'll make it up on the next chapter. **

**Now for the pairings, sadly only one shared their suggested couple. ShadouRyu-kun! here's a cookie!**

**Suggested pairings (and my pairings :))**

**TsunaxKyoko**

**NarutoxIno**

**NarutoxHaru**

**HakuxChrome**

**InoxMukuro**

**KakashixIruka(fem/male)**

**I am so very full of ideas for the pairings, this is not the full list though. I am just waiting for some of you to suggest more, you can include the rookie nine in your choices, so go crazy. I you want to suggest you pairing follow this guideline.**

**Type: either Hetero, Yaoi or Yuri -still unsure about the last choice-**

**Couple:**

**Reason:**

**Simple as that, and another favor I'll ask of you. I am looking for a name for the Mafia family that the Hidden Villages will take in the future, of course just state a reasonable explanation on why you want that name :) **

**Lastly, thank you for following and chose this story as your favorite. Over nine hundred views! Although worded support is so much better than looking at numbers... hehe So, comments, suggestions, ideas, and reactions is very much welcomed!**


	9. Author's note: Sorry

**First of all I am very for this abrupt decision of mine... This story would be on PERMANENT REVISION. The reason is, just to be frank I butchered up some scenes all throughout the story. It was inconsistent and just plain mind boggling. Those secretive background scenes made it too much for me remember each chapter, I reread each one and it just doesn't make any sense to me so far and it made me decide to just scrape this story off the board and start over again, or even revising the story, whichever fits.**

**Another one of my reason is the very small support you beloved readers gave, I am grateful for the views, reviews, follows and favorites you gave during these past month. And I am sorry for not meeting your expectations, it's just that being an upstart writer gave me too much hope too get acknowledgement for my work, I apologize if that sound selfish. **

**On a more positive note, the revised or the newer version of this story will be put up by next month -midterms are coming in close, and my prelims are such a disappointment that I won't have taken anymore second chances- That's it! Once again I'm sorry for this decision. **


	10. Not a chapter! it's an update though

A/N: Sorry this is not a chapter! I'm just here to give you an update... the revised version of this story is out! just check my profile or just search for the "Flames of Legacy"...once again thank you for viewing this story!

As you all know, I scratched off the whole plot from the drawing board and started anew, so the revised version is very different from the Wills of Legacy, there will be some minor -or is it major?- changes in character and the over all plot would quickly drift away from the canon. The only similarity is that between the two is that they are both held in the KHR universe, with some shinobi characters along the way.

This story is a nice test run, although there are times that I was doubting to even start a chapter since none of them even manage to get some reviews from some of you, but it is nonetheless very fun to write a story. A question though, are you okay for me to delete this story?

Anyway just say yes or no, and i'll decide by the end of the month. you could comment out your reason if you have time to spare.


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